 Underneath Skoll, I work at Labrador Friendship Center as the shield project coordinator. So the shield project, it stands for Sexual Health Information Exchange Labrador District and we operated it out of the Labrador Friendship Center but it's meant to go throughout the whole Labrador region. And the idea is that we're using art culture and technology as mediums to bring young people together to build relationships, to create safe, supportive spaces, and then to bring in different health and holistic well-being themes, things around sexual health, but also many indirect health themes, whether it's self-esteem or relationship building or just connecting because I look at health in a circular way as opposed to an institutionalized way, I guess. We've identified Indigenous youth age 14 to 18 within our, because we're funded through the Public Health Agency of Canada, but what we've done is we've opened it up to all youth within that age range but now because of interest we have opened it up even to 12-year-olds and 13-year-olds, recognizing that if young people are feeling drawn to this project then we need to be flexible and adaptable to include them in that way. And we also look at that all youth being able to have access to what we're doing is about inclusiveness and encouraging that diversity, but also when all youth are having these positive life experiences, Indigenous youth who are within our communities, which these are predominantly Indigenous communities, it helps everybody so if we're trying to create this idea that everybody is included, excluding any youth is just not how we want to go. What we're doing is trying to be really creative and create natural, intergenerational learning and sharing opportunities by recognizing local role models who are Labradorian, who are Indigenous, who are artists of different forms. So we're really open to what our culture and technology looks like. So everything kind of includes in that from cell phone tricks and being able to use them for photography and filmmaking to, and when we do that, we're able to see that youth are also the skill-shares. So they many times can teach the older generation and so when you bring them together in these learning environments, we're not sort of creating this who's above and who's below. It's still in this kind of circular feeling and that's part of the culture that we bring into it. There's times where I've had academics kind of ask. So what's the cultural component to this event? And I said, well, the fact that we're doing it within a circle, that everybody is equal here, we bring Indigenous values in, we honor the cultures of all of our participants. We have a lot of new Canadians who are within our communities and so they come and the interaction and the sharing is whatever culture you bring to this. So it's really diverse and that's what makes it really exciting and the art we've done everything from theater arts to visual art to virtual art to music to dance. I mean, it's again like we're using mediums that have a lot of flexibility and so usually when we're connecting to different artists, it really is the sky's the limit, you know, and then how young people sort of plug into that to create these safe spaces and we incorporate this health theme allows all of a sudden it's not so here's when you talk to your nurse or your doctor, your public health person or here's when you talk to your guidance counselor or here's a fun art activity, we're actually meshing all of these people together as humans as opposed to their titles and positions. So that's where relationship building can happen. I mean, we can have a resident doctor helping out at an art slam and the kids don't even realize this individual is a doctor, but in having conversation and sharing with each other, then they figure that out and they go, huh, a doctor's here helping out with this. And it changes how they when they walk into these more formalized settings. Now a doctor can be someone that they're not intimidated by doctors, someone who was coloring pictures with them a few nights ago. So it's really looking at things to break down barriers as opposed to creating really the stories. I think in many ways it's the stories from the youth, the feedback, the energy. I mean, it's very tangible when you're in these sessions, when youth are engaged and you know, I've been involved in a lot of different sort of formalized learning, you know, presentations, working in non-profit. I've gone into schools for, you know, anti-bullying days. And so you have this session about bullying and about relationships. And when you do that, a lot of times I find youth kind of turn off and they whether this is happening to them or not, they can't show that same kind of level of emotion because they don't want to be targeted or they won't, they don't want to be traumatized or triggered or it could be that this is something they're really just not comfortable with. But when we bring in a form of art and while we're doing this art, we're talking about relationships and you see people relax and get comfortable and they just start speaking. So it takes, again, this fear, this audience factor out of it. And so for me, that's the measures of success. When a young person opens up and shares with us or is not afraid to ask questions, when I see, you know, the professionals really relaxing, allowing themselves to be more human. And they don't mind doing a craft activity. You know, they don't mind sharing in the music. They don't feel this sense of needing to perform. Then that to me is success. And of course, we do a lot of evaluation. We do have an external evaluator for our project. And so she does all of the technical work around the evaluations and making sure that our funder is getting all of the indicators that they need. So there's all those layers and things that we do through the, you know, through the federal funded through the government systems. But there's also this piece about how we're going to be able to tell this story of what this project has done, how it's impacted our community, how it's impacting youth, how it's impacting the service providers, you know, so even simple things like, you know, over this weekend, we were doing these metal art courses. And I get parents who are reaching out to me and just wanted to say thank you, like my young person hasn't gotten involved in things in such a long time. And they're so excited about this, they gave up their weekend, you know, coming in nine to four on a Saturday and Sunday when you're a teenager is if I was offering a, you know, a sexual health activity, they probably wouldn't have come. But because I'm combining this art form, they're there and they're engaged and they want to learn, they want to share that success. I think it's when we, when we get back into the circle and this idea that sharing goes both ways, that everyone in the community, regardless of what their status is or their background is or their age is, all have something to bring to the circle. And so sharing and the skill building is not reflected on position as much as on wanting to, you know, so I think what we're doing that that is unique is we're really giving young people a voice and we're allowing them to lead this project and we come in and we support them in doing that. And so I think indigenous education is also about the value systems of indigenous communities. And this again, this circular way of the whole community works together. And the whole community decides and we all have a responsibility and a role within that. And it's not just this institutionalized structure of education of who's the authority, who's the teacher and how the students, you know, behave. So it really, you know, we did, we've had different events where we take it can be outside or it can be inside. There could be desks involved, we could be sitting around the circle, we could be moving tables, right? Like, so it's really for me when I think of some of the formalized education, their structures, there's these standards, there's this criteria that allows young people to sort of feel like, so I'm in the top of the class, the middle of the class or the bottom of the class. Indigenous education for me takes away these social structures, these classes, these where do I fit into this? And it becomes really about this holistic circle, where everyone walks away feeling like they've genuinely contributed, but that they're also very purposeful. And we talk a lot about land based learning as a part of an Indigenous education. I think that's really important. But we don't always have to think the only way we can do Indigenous education is to bring people out onto the land. I think we need to figure out more creative ways to bring the land into wherever people are learning, so that we don't get sort of caught up into these structures where it's only if we can, you know, take them out in the boat. There's many ways to bring water into your classroom, or into wherever that environment is, and where we incorporate a lot of technology into our project, going out into the woods or going out on the land, we start getting a little bit of restrictions if we're looking for Wi-Fi, if we're looking for the ability to do things online, or figuring out how to bring that technology into those land based places. So we're a lot of our stuff, like we run a summit that will be mostly within a building. But that doesn't mean we can't bring this Indigenous sense of values, and how we construct things, and how we build this agenda, and still do it in a very inclusive and holistic way. I'd like to see it to continue to build in these creative ways that, because where I find we're losing more and more of sort of our elders, and who are going to be the next wave of elders. So what I think of in 10 years, I think of the elders I work with now, where will they still be with us 10 years from now, and who will be the next knowledge holders? And how do we look at knowledge holders? And how do we look at people who are bearing witness? And so I think, you know, looking at things like the Truth or Reconciliation caused action around education and really making those real could be a good direction to head in. But I think also, I mean, from the work that I do, which is predominantly youth based, it's being able to see the youth as our knowledge holders and really giving them opportunity and that safe space to share that knowledge in a really impactful way. So it's again, it's kind of getting away from this sort of triangular model of who the teachers are and who the students are. I hope that we keep growing more and more that we're part of a circle, or almost, you know, I think of the way that water flows that some places are really calm and some places are really busy. And I think if we can look at education, the way we look at water systems, the way we look at how the land operates, how the circle of life flows, you know, that could be a really interesting place to be where young people start to not always have to feel this pressure that many of them feel right now about the expectations of society, of their families, of this institutionalized version of success. So if we can help to sort of change that model into something about where you feel a sense of purpose, where you feel like you are part of this greater picture, where you're really connected to the land, you're connected to your culture. And that's the things that make you feel really good. So we start to look at success, not in this form of whether, you know, all the letters after my name or what have I achieved or accomplished within a colonized, westernized world, but that we actually feel this deep sense of connection and purpose to our life path. That to me would be a really exciting place to go. And I hope that that's what the SHIELD project allows opportunity for youth to feel a sense of purpose. Because I think a lot of times when we get in trouble, you know, as young people as adults, is because we've lost that sense of purpose. And so the Western world has told us, here's the things to fill that void. And a lot of those are around education, career, family, home, you know, but how we define those when we start to embrace that as indigenous people were very nomadic. We have these deeper connections to land and water and lives and animals. How does this start to change, you know, this version of knowledge? No, it seems like sometimes knowledge and wisdom is so far apart from each other because we think one is institutionalized and one is life based. You know, how do we make sure that they're all intertwined into this, this one path that that's okay if you slip up and make mistakes. And then when I look at how colonization has been, I think that's led many times to indigenous purpose being taken away and then replaced with, you know, addictions and with very unhealthy sort of coping mechanisms that would have been introduced generations ago. And we're still trying to reconcile and heal from that that if we can, if we can develop systems that allow that healing to happen in a much more gentle or fluid way and that we're able to look at each other as healers and how we all offer into this energy. I mean, I have a lot of big visions on where we could be, you know, if we get into the triangle and start to really embrace the circle.