 I'm involved in programs here at Fleming College, as well as other programs with the youth of Trent University, a program called Tracks, which starts with Trent University, which now bear cultural knowledge and science, as well as a language on the land language program and camp out of the Durham District School Board, and also working with teachers in that school board and other facilitators of business portfolio in that school board as well. We work actually with Durham, like we have, there was like a newborn that was there in our summer program, spring summer program, and some as old as, well, some retired teachers and individuals who are, it was a family group. So we had grandparents, we had parents, children, and then the youngest was a newborn who was only a week old, that came through our program, so we were really trying to promote families and Anishinaabemowin, that would be a whole family experience that would go from our particular gatherings on the land, at an outdoor education center and conservation center north of Port Perry, and from that experience into the homes, that way the language would become useful for them and those experiences that they would have collectively as well. We thought in that program it would be important not just for the students to be exposed to the language Anishinaabemowin in the program, but to include the families, the parents, the grandparents, and that way they could share it and take it home and make it useful for themselves. And with Trax we work with different age groups, as young as Junior Kindergarten, right up to high school, and we do some instruction even with future teacher candidates. We have the University Student Age as well, and in that program we also do mentorship where we have students who have been within our program for about five or six years, and they begin to become older and older, so we get them to mentor younger students who are part of our program and teach them a little bit of, or give them that space to do some instruction and teaching for younger students to say, you know, this is highly valuable perspective when it comes to indigenous science and western science and weaving the two, and so they get to do some mentorship and leadership as well within that program, and here at Fleming College we do with college age students, and we have a lot of students who are as young as 17 and 18 coming right out of high school, and we have some returning students and mature students or students that are looking for another option for our career, so they have come back to school and some of them are in their 50s and 60s. I would start with my own personal intention, why I want to work with these programs or, you know, always find the opportunity to engage with learners and students or educators and be a part of the learning experiences in my family, like I had the opportunity to be exposed to my own culture, Nishinaabe language, and not everyone has that exposure or had that opportunity to know, so there's a little bit of a responsibility to share that and to promote it, to make it accessible for learners, for the youth especially, and that's where a lot of my intention lies is that when growing up, the individuals took the time to teach me or expose or take the time to show me these things, I kind of feel a responsibility to continue that as well and connect to the youth and make it available and accessible for them and they know there's a value in it and I want to reaffirm that or empower that, that everything that they're being exposed to or that they're knowing is going to be an important factor to themselves as well as to the next generation and how they carry it, so my own intention with working in those programs is to really inspire that indigenous youth or indigenous people we have a lot to offer and so I bring that to all the programs that I work with, is that passion or that motivation that I have, responsibility that I carry to share those things and to make it meaningful or rational to take out some of the misunderstandings or mysticisms of the way our culture might be and then more specifically like in Dermdisch School Board, the intention there is to make the language useful and make Anishinaabe more useful to all ages and so that way they can carry it outside of the home as well as understand it and have some experience with it, the living aspect of the language. So in my family that's one thing that they really promote and speak about so I try and mimic that or try and align myself with that importance that the language shouldn't always be translated into another language or that we should learn Anishinaabe when as a second language that we should embody it and understand the life of the way the language is meant to be or the way our ancestors had spoken the language and what I've seen it do for the youth is it inspires them and they've had inclinations or intuition that there's more to who we are as people culturally and in terms of our identity so inside of them it inspires them to say I knew there was more and now they're being exposed to it and here at Fleming we work with indigenous and non-indigenous students and so we begin to try to empower or attempt to empower the student to have a way of connecting with indigenous knowledge indigenous peoples lands and territories as well as creation utilizing an indigenous way of knowing or pedagogy or philosophy that all life entities are equal and just as important as themselves and that we are able to do what we can do because of those relationships we have with each other with our communities, with our knowledge and with the environment so we try and promote this importance of honoring all of those relationships and the things that have made it possible that we can do what we can do something as easy as the relationship to the air to the water, to the plants, to the animals and to each other to our families and our communities and to honor those relationships and to be motivated then to treat everyone as equals or as living beings and inspire or further inspire some of their passions at Fleming like we work with 13, 14 different programs it's mandatory that they have to take an indigenous perspective course and then they begin to have the historical context and understanding of how history has evolved and how the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples in Canada has evolved and why there is complications today and then we get them to really be critical in thinking of how to be proactive and how to utilize their own positionality their own gifts and abilities to work towards making better relationships better choices, more informed choices based upon that context and engage within their career field in a better way so really try and give them those tools and further develop those gifts that they've been given in passions whether it be in the helping roles or in the environmental roles in the justice careers that they're going to be going into and at Trax again it's kind of a little bit of all of that where we really want to reinforce this value of indigenous science base, Anishinaabe has science base that indigenous peoples have long been employing rational methods of hypothesizing things and theorizing things and putting things into practice that we were able to quantify some of the qualities that is a scientific inquiry we have a very rational way of connecting with the lands with the resources and those relationships and to demystify those things for the youth to say there are real importance to these relationships and knowledges that we carry based upon their experiences many of the indigenous students that come to Trax they carry this stuff already so we want to reinforce that we want to give them opportunities to grow their experiences that they already have based upon their knowledge that may have come from their own families their own experiences in their communities or their own pursuit of indigenous knowledge as well so we really try and harness that to say you are highly valuable in the knowledge that you carry as well as as youth you have a high value to grow and to share your knowledge to pursue that knowledge and inspire them that whatever they set their mind to they can accomplish and to know that now more than ever we need indigenous knowledge to begin to be a part of society and that everyone begin to see the value and the use to honor all of our relations whether it be an idea of Nui Kanagana or a Kinamo Shin or an exercise what Mino Domatsuin really means in terms of responsibility to the South to each other and to our families to our communities to all people to the lands, to the resources that there is a science based there that says we can't go without any of those entities or without any of those webs of relationships that are all counterparts and the envisionment of creation or the envisionment of the intention of creation and the term that we use is in Komotas Agashé which really describes that we're a part of the balancing act of creation humans in relation to all of creation so we're a part of that intention so we need to continue to be exist and promote well-being and I would really speak to again like being a youth and growing up is not always feeling valued or honored or having the confidence that the knowledge and experiences that I carried were not always promoted but luckily I had the privilege of having individuals who did that and it took the time to do that for me so you know, especially for our youth and they really need that they need that space they need that opportunity to know that they're highly valued their gifts to our people their minds and their perspectives are very, of course, part of that diversity of how they are experiencing and part of, again, the energy or the potential and the potency of how the next generation will be exposed to indigenous knowledge and do that engaging with all other knowledges that we see today in evolution or acculturation that occurs to exposure of other ways of knowing other methods, other scientific inquiries that enhance each other so an idea that we use is the idea of the two I see and I like including that idea of periphery which is utilizing as many methods or as many ways of knowing and describing as much as possible to embody that to fully understand and make true or, you know, the method of ande bue win which describes, you know, that people understand the truth based upon their own experiences but then they're able to share their own truths and help other people see the way they might see it so having a grander way of describing it and making it rational or sharing experiences with other people then really adds to that truth and truth seeking or knowing and learning and the methods of learning and actually seeing, when you're seeing something and knowing what you're actually seeing and not missing it because like in my experience learning about the lands and the resources and specifically about medicines there would be a lot of times when I would be walking on the land or in the bush where, you know, I wasn't able to identify so many plants and so many trees and I would walk by them and not know the identity of what I was walking through or who I was interacting with and getting to know now, you know, the nishnaabean names for plants nishnaabean names for animals and entities and creation, you know, and really taking the time to say, well, why is this plant or why is this entity called this and then, you know, those interactions and that rapport building with those landscapes and those specific entities, they reveal themselves to you and then you get to see like this is what they're revealing in terms of their identity and you get to know those plants so anytime you pass by a plant that you've built a rapport with and got to know what you interact with then you're not going to just pass by it, you're going to want to say something or you're going to want to acknowledge that plant and that entity and then same with people the more you interact with people and get to know people then you're going to want to, you know, share some energy or share some words share some interactions with even people and entities so that they'll know what they're seeing when we're exposed to or we'll know what kindness and care or responsibility looks like and hopefully inspire others to, you know, want to know about our culture to see the value in our culture of practices our ways of knowing, our science based and know that it's real, you know, it's not something that is stuck in the past mysticism that is highly valued within the institution like we are required to do certain evaluation pieces that, you know, I try though to employ even within the institution Anishinaabe Pedagogy or Akinomage format of teaching of putting it all together and so I use different formats and it kind of would be unrealistic to ask any student, okay, now it's time for test it's time for a test and I'm going to test you on you know what our experiences were what I had said or I want you to you know do it exactly the way I did it or tell it the way I told it or reiterate it the way I had done it and that would be, you know, really undermining the whole approach of promoting diversity and honoring the students' own perspective so the way I would be, you know, I guess an indicator that the work that I'm doing is useful as sometimes having conversations with some of the students and asking explicitly like how are you experiencing it what have you been picking up what could I do better or what could we we do better within the classroom or within our interactions who would we need as well outside of our group and outside of our classroom that would be useful or are there places where we need to go and all the answers kind of give me an indicator that it is driving their motivation to learn more or that there are things that they're picking up and I get them to even talk with each other to say, you know, because they might be reluctant to tell me exactly how they're experiencing it or they may not want to give me the criticisms all the time so I get them to talk with each other or do different means of evaluating it or do the anonymous kind of suggestions that they could give to me that way they, you know, would feel most comfortable sharing the other indicators, like there's so many stories I can share where I've seen, you know, the effect of a student engaging with Anishinaabemowin or engaging with the lens and the resources and with our culture or with our practices, with our sciences where, you know, you just see it on their faces or in their demeanor, in their body language where they begin to open up they begin to be excited, you know, and I know it reminds me when I see students going through that or individuals going through that because I know that's what has done for me as well is that it has motivated me it inspired me, grounded me, you know I found healing in it I found inspiration in it and I see it happening to other people as well and it reminds me, you know and it motivates me to keep going that it is helping one of my favorite stories that I like to share that I ask permission for from one of my students where she never talked and she had been someone who was in the Chalawau for our system and had not too much exposure to Anishinaabemowin culture in any means and many people who worked with her and even other peers, they said yeah, she wouldn't hardly ever talk or hardly ever say anything but we knew that, you know she was highly intelligent, very good at school and when we were having our class language Anishinaabemowin on the land or Akinomoshin she began to utilize the language to find her voice and begin to speak and started out as simple introductions and introducing herself to getting a handle on other words that were useful in conversation to other words that are useful in applying or identifying the experiences that she had with the landscape or with the environment and she began to share those things and after five weeks of interaction I didn't get to experience this but I only heard from her teachers that she presented and introduced herself in a class assembly to her peers in the language and it totally astonished her peers and other teachers that she had begun to find her voice and then share it and be very proud of it and she would tell people with clear confidence that she was an Anishinaabe individual and begin to carry it like with confidence and tell people explicitly so those stories or those examples it's not just about how many words she had remembered or how many things she could translate or how many ideas in English she could bring into an Anishinaabe perspective but it was really seeing the value of how she carried it and what it meant for her and how the language connected to her so I would say that's sort of beyond test or beyond test scores and the way someone might have a great percentage or whatever it might be that's sort of how I would evaluate what it has meant for the person and how it has ignited their own fire or field or their own motivation reminds me of a term my grandma used to say to me every morning she would say a command she would say and she would say every now and then in English after she would say find the reason to light your own fire find a reason to light your own passion or motivation to get up in the morning and there would be times where I wouldn't feel very I would be tired or I couldn't sleep very well and she would say I already told you you have to get up you have to find the thing inside that you're motivated to do what you're intended to do that's the way I would see it for the students is that they're inspired to continue to feel the motivation and continued motivation to take life and to love their life and to be motivated to expand their gifts and abilities and make choices based upon their growth growing up I always thought what would make things perfect what would make things in the best situation the best possibility and just letting that dream go through like in the best case scenario another thing I would think my grandpa my grandpa David told me he said David oh he would say we shouldn't really divide ourselves or look at each other as different he would say that we're all human our responsibility as humans to know what life is about based upon our own truths and we should know what our responsibility to life is and he would say that's the only thing we really own in life is our responsibility and carrying out our responsibility and he would tell me that's what makes us all is this way we carry out life and the exercise of life and expanding how we would carry out our responsibility to life within us to the life around us the life that comes to us and throughout us and the life that we put out into creation he would tell me that's what it means to be an Anishinaabe person or a person in relation to other people and other life forms individuals that we might describe as other than human entities within creation and it reminds me of a term that someone had mentioned recently is the term that Anishinaabe used for Canada is Akina Ode the way we might apply that term as Canadians or as individuals who carry Akina Ode is that everything we would do would be based upon our heart ability our gift ability, our intuition but as well as our rational being and everything that we do and carry out would be our life and to empower life not just for ourselves but for all of creation and for the continuation of life and we see that within the term Anishinaabe we see that in the term Akina Oshin in the pursuit of knowing we see that in the term Minno-Bomatsu in the term Nui-Kanaganai it all is just pursuit and reciprocal to creation and what creation has granted us and so I would say in terms of education my hope is that there would be a time when everyone would be confident in knowing about the life that they carry and the ability of the life that they carry in relation to all of creation and the effects everything that we do has an effect on the next generations both human and other than human beings and that we would be mindful and know that there is a responsibility to be kind be gentle, respectful reciprocal to those ones that are not yet here those ones that are yet to come and knowing that everything that we do someday the next generation will inherit and there will be this energy that will be transferred to those generations and that's what I see in that term that we describe as ourselves here within this nation as Canadians and the Nishinabet translation or pronunciation of it is Akanade and what that responsibility carries is that we would be mindful of ourselves in relation to all of creation and that we would honor that relationship that we would not be here or we would not be who we are if it wasn't for our relationships to our families our communities our people and our neighbors our territories creation all the entities of creation the land the resources the plants, the animals all the elements and all that knowledge that they bring and share and the way they govern themselves in terms of natural laws they're basing it upon their own ability and their free will and so that would inform everything that we do so that's what I that would be in my sort of envisionment of kind of educational outcome is that everyone begins to either know or is in a process of developing and being critical to inform what their responsibility is to themselves and to each other and to all of creation and the idea of Nui Kanaganah we're all related we're all connected we all have this responsibility to each other not just to us here in this time or in this moment but the continuation and perpetuity of time and that energy that is going to be shared just further utilizing what is being done there's so many good examples of what people are doing far and wide within Canada, within North America or Mishikem and Nising and Angashkar Gmekwe throughout the world we're not just talking about it or utilizing the theories and the philosophies of it but we're putting it in the practice so experiential learning would be an avenue where bringing people together to experience things and bringing restoring some of those practices that all the cultures would have and having that opportunity to share those narratives from those ways of knowing and knowledges, learning processes of knowing that people have in diversity throughout our territories throughout our our regions or throughout our world as well and there's opportunities that are happening where people are engaging in that way the one that I would for myself where I would like to learn more is on the land with individuals who have the time and the energy and who are honored to come out and do some of that instruction and teaching experiential type learning getting outside of the classroom I know there is use and need to utilize classroom setting and opportunity and the work that I do is to take the students to get out of the classroom because in my experience and the way many of my teachers have taught me even within my own family it's better to see it in action it's really good to see it and experience it in those moments, in those places rather than just talking about those places or talking about those experiences to really get those hands and those eyes and those senses right connected to it and I remember a thing the reason why I really would stand by that idea is my great grandpa who gave me my name he was a very old old man the pillar in my life growing up I was a little bit anxious and I talked to him one time and I said what am I going to do when you're gone I'm not going to have this type of knowledge base I'm not going to have you I know for my entire life but I know there's going to be times in my life where I'm going to want to have you in my life and he looked at me and he says well you will always have a teacher because where do you think our knowledge came from where language came from you know he said that's where you go as you go to where where our knowledge and our traditions where our practices all came from where they've been informed from and I didn't always understand what he meant when he said you go to the source of that knowledge you know and so I didn't understand until later where you know I'm going out to the land and taking that time to interact with the land sometimes in solitude individually or sometimes with other individuals who are able to do some of that translation and facilitation of knowing what we're seeing when we're on the land and knowing what those experiences are as well as all the reinforcement of the different tools that we utilize whether it be cultural knowledge and practices and ceremonies or the way we would build a rapport and approach all of creation that's what he was talking about and it's within that term of kind of motion is that the lands and the resources and creation is there and is communicating it kind of sounds weird but they're exposing the knowledge that they have and through a rapport and through a connection then we begin to build understanding about what we're seeing and whether it be you know the way an ecosystem or the way entities within an environment govern and establish their relationships and work collectively together or in a cycle over a time or an evolutionary process and we are affected by that as people or as individuals who are living amongst creation like that so it really made sense to me and what I sort of hold dear in the way I like to facilitate my classroom or any knowledge I'm trying to share is how to utilize my own experiences my own narratives as well as the way I envision it in my mind so I utilize movement and I utilize other people's diverse experiences and try and facilitate sharing those experiences and the way other people are connecting to ideas on philosophies and sciences and understandings and then experiential learning so every kind of possible method I can to give individuals every view of what we're experiencing or what we're seeing and what our responsibility would be or what the learning would be so I would say every resource possible and individual and the work that they're doing and even for myself I try and make relationships with other educators who are doing some very amazing work and facilitating in a very innovative and creative way and it helps me also get over some of my own shyness to be expressive or to utilize movement or to utilize song to utilize Nishinau Ben-Win to speak the language more to utilize it within my every every day and to not be so shy to utilize all those very kind of I guess putting yourself out there kind of methods I'm not a a singer or a dancer or an actor of any sense there's very different methods that are being used to help embody knowledge and utilize knowledge where it's not just something that is external from the student or from the learner it's something that they utilize physically, mentally, emotionally and energy-wise embody that idea of Deb Wei-Win is that the truth becomes fully visible on the person that's the way I would sort of describe that term in an idea is that because it radiates from the person and everything that they do and you can see it it's conducive within everything that they do or it informs everything that they do and they become conductors of how creation exists within them or how they interact with creation and hopefully being reciprocal and minding their responsibility to to sharing or to give back or to sharing what they know with other people