 with a staff member and they work quite closely with the students that are in that group to ensure that the academic, the personal, the social, the mental well-being, if you will, are on the road to success and achieving the requirements as they move through the program. Each year they rotate to ensure that that tracking is kept in place. When there are any kinds of issues or concerns or challenges that are brought up, typically we red-flight the student and we try and work on a plan together so that we can achieve a level of success with them without leaving them behind or having them withdraw. We go out of our way to provide all kinds of supports for them, academic supports with tutoring for example, personal supports for referrals perhaps to another space on campus or off campus. Any kind of supports tied to their own well-being from their home life if you will or at community level we try and engage in assisting and guiding them through those processes because at the end of the day we want to ensure that we are reaching out the best way we can for them to do well and so by doing so we track. We have a system a couple of times during the year that I get a chance to look at to see what our numbers are like the successes and the retention if you will. Our attrition is very low and of course it happens typically in the first year. Those supports are really critical in terms of having them in place so that they can successfully achieve the first year and then continue to build and move on from there. Ultimately the retention that we have is very high because when students are done our program they feel proud and they feel good about who they are coming through the program and then getting into the classroom and sharing what they've learned and being a model if you will in the community and in the school for potential future candidates that will come into the program as well so we've got a good host of that between human resources and paper resources that work together in a good way. What are some of the services that you provide within the incentive program? Well one of the things that we do obviously is first have our students be part of our community. That's important is setting the foundations of being part of the community feeling comfortable with who they are knowing that they come from all different walks of life getting to engage in building a relationship with them that's foundational. After that relationship is built then we get to know the students a lot more closely and work with them more closely in a way that we begin to see the kind of supports that they might need so for example if we have a student that has a learning disability they don't find up to them well into the program well we're getting a hold of the Student Success Center to try and engage in the process of assisting how to deal with their disability if they never had an opportunity to go through that before. Another opportunity that we see success in engaging our students is various fundraisings throughout the year most recently student initiative with the verdict around the Colton Boucher case the GoFundMe page our students have taken it upon themselves to create t-shirts to get that awareness out there about how important social justice is and we promote and we support and we guide them through those processes they they look for us for support and in the hopes that we will engage in whatever opportunity that presents itself that we'll go forward with them in a good way in a very humbling way in a respectful way we encourage them to be a part of the university community in any way we know how whether it's through the Aboriginal Student Center engaging in UR talks having them present something that they may have learned for example we had a student last semester present on hunting and tracking and teaching his experiences around tracking when he's out hunting showing different different examples of what that looks like when you're out on the land so we take that into consideration we built into our classes the importance of land-based learning and community learning as well too right down to at the beginning of every year we take our entire student body down to the librette community and we spend the entire day out there and we look at different ways of looking at identity and culture and what that community has to offer family ties the history behind it so we don't have necessarily all on campus academic or personal related we extended out to the community for support this fall too and we find that students really get off on a good note when they're moving forward in their studies and we literally support everything that we that they do well can you tell me a little bit about how how much students are would be enrolled per year okay how much positions I guess we have a cap of 60 students that we can't go any higher with so we're small but mighty program I always tell everyone each year on average we would have anywhere between 15 to 18 in each year now typically what happens is we not only have the small numbers because I think that's the mandate of our success but what I really like to like seeing is how our students when they begin in the first year they travel together through every year of the program so they're the cohort model and they rely on one another for support and they get through first year they move to second year and so on until they're completely done now there are times of course when life dictates school and they have to leave early but they never leave us completely they end up coming back so currently we have 55 students out of 60 and that's a nice number for us we're very happy with that it can go up it can go down but currently we're feeling really good about where and how the students started each year in the program this year for graduation we'll be graduating 12 so we're looking forward to the graduation celebration as well two 10 female and two male and at this point I already have three of them that have job offers so we know that we're continuing to move in the direction of what our mandate is in terms of um of the of indigenous education on um on a larger scale what makes sun tep and the graveyard juban institute so important here you you've talked a little bit about here in Saskatchewan but important in indigenous education in general okay when you talk about indigenous education in general I'd like to thank the model of the work that we do here by having an indigenous education program can be expanded in any opportunity across this country in terms of the work that we do now what I what I mean by that is let's say something like land based learning the model that we follow meets the needs of our students in our program tied to their identity so we go out on the land and we go camping and we take them to various historical monuments or locations that the Métis presence was very important during that particular time and I'm not saying that it's always stuck in history those were the foundational teachings and from there moving forward to where we are today for let's say the history of what goes on for example in Winnipeg some of the Métis communities and places noteworthy in Winnipeg but then we also have a contemporary version of the Museum of Human Rights that the Métis voice in that museum as well too that continues to expand on the identity piece so I'd like to think that indigenous education what we do not only is it based on on what we see and perceive the importance of it being but it can be expanded in any type of model through the lens of an example of land based learning now where it becomes very unique and distinct for us is we offer a Métis language class Mitchif 100 the traditional language of the Métis people that's a very important language and it's also a dying language like most indigenous languages are now making that part of our program as a required language piece gives students that additional sense of identity and place of belonging of who they are and where they come from and we are very fortunate to have two staff members that can co-teach it together and have a good foundational history of one of them that being their first language so across Canada for a language class like that that has big implications there is no other post-secondary institution in this country that offers a Mitchif language class we are the only ones in this country that's a big achievement for us and we are very grateful to the faculty of education for the support in getting it through to make it part don't get me wrong we can send our students to a Cree class or a Cota class or a Sota class because they need to have that language component as part of their program but what a better way than learning about who they are and embracing and taking pride in their own identity by offering a language class that we were managed that we now have managed to do and we take a lot of pride in that so that on a larger scale I think has plenty of implications and just the basic things that we do we present at conferences guest speakers and events everything we do in indigenous education revolves around that piece of being maintained and the identity and the importance of culture and language that go along with it so there's all kinds of opportunities that are just some examples of what we do for sure what would be what would be your advice to give to other institutes or potential communities across the country in regards to increasing recognition and acknowledgement through programs education programs like this for the Métis populations well the first thing that comes to my mind and this is no disrespect but for a very very long time there's been a focus on the education indigenous education from a First Nations perspective unfortunately too often Métis education has been a bit of an add-on if you will an afterthought or after the fact it needs to be on equal footing the biggest advice that I can think of is how important that is for us you've got treaty education in the classrooms from K to 12 and it's mandated where Métis education where is it mandated it doesn't exist there's a bit of a disconnect there we need to ensure that the quality is there for all indigenous peoples and I can even extend it further to talk about the Inuit as well too we may be in the south here but that doesn't mean that we're not learning about the Inuit people either for that matter if you want to treat people fairly from an indigenous perspective First Nations Métis and Inuit has to be part of that conversation or part of that mix because even though the history of First Nations people has been thoroughly researched documented discussed if you will so has equally Métis education in addition to Inuit education but that lack of footing we want to make sure that we don't get all caught up in having it all speak for everybody if you will it's not all First Nations it's very distinctly key education very unique very much meets the needs of the community and those that were engaged in making some place like Gabriel de Mines to exist and continue exist and build for that matter that's my biggest message is making sure that we're all on the same footing and not forgetting because at one time we were closely tied and had strong relationships and kinships that somehow over time has gone non-existent if you will and it's reclaiming that back in terms of how important that is and that's the big thing that I think that would strike me as something that needs to be attended to in a good way and you're what do you say that's your future your future vision for indigenous education across the country then it would be the flip side of that obviously Heather knowing that the the equal footing of Métis education is out there in a way that showcases and highlights all the successes and the achievements the the great stories the history the language the land learning that goes on how it all comes together like everybody else whether it's in a way that that is through the oral tradition if you will or in the written format for that matter there are many old ones that we work with that share that knowledge with us so that we can in turn facilitate it to the students and enhance the program so that we're all we all come from the same place in that regard there's all that tie there that it's important that we maintain that as best as we can and continue to bridge it and move it forward we're not an afterthought for sure is there anything else that you'd like to add in our regards to the SunTep program some of the things that you have to offer currently or even how one can get involved in learning more about the SunTep program here with the Gabriel Duvall Institute sure Gabriel Duvall Institute because of the time we live in has a very active website if people are not familiar with who we are the website showcases all the various entities of the umbrella organization Gabriel Duvall Institute we are only one piece of the entire organization there is Dumont Technical Institute which is adult learning and education but also skills and traits so let's say you want to go get your safety tickets you want to do truck driver training you want to do office education that's Dumont Technical Institute and we're still under the same organization there's also training and employment training and employment helps individuals that are coming in that are underemployed and under-educated and need supports to get out there and get the resumes out there or need training or need work placements or what have you there's that piece as well too we also have libraries and the libraries which we house not too far from where we're sitting right now has a collection about half and half indigenous and non-indigenous in their collection and we have a very close relationship with library people because our students spend a lot of time in there and they support us by bringing in community people and hosting various events that we participate in that's really important we support one another that way and in Saskatoon we also have a publishing department so we publish a whole host of resources and these resources we use as part of our program it's called the virtual museum to get additional resources and there is a beautiful space in Saskatoon in the publishing department that showcases and highlights the importance of native education and how it can be achieved through different learning opportunities in their space and they even have a shopping site where you can purchase resources clothing kitchen things like just a whole host of things like everything that you possibly think of this is really important and it's updated annually we also have a piece tied to this in publishing with the language development that that in itself is something that we take a lot of pride in because revitalizing and reclaiming language is a critical piece in in the work that we do so there's that the other case that we have is we have scholarships for our students whether you're an adult education learner or a son tech learner or a skills and trades learner there's a whole host of scholarships and awards that are out there for our students that are part of this and they engage in getting a lot of support through our annual they are annual awards through the various community partners that we have that have set up a whole host of them last fall we have the release of our report is another item I want to draw your attention to gives you the whole history both with statistics background information and the importance of the program that we do since our program has been around since 1980 we've graduated 1238 grads almost a thousand of them are teachers in Saskatchewan schools that's pretty impressive that's really all over the province whether you're in Regina Saskatoon or Prince Albert and the others are in different capacities in education right so the report that was put together by Dr. Howell at the University of Saskatchewan highlights the importance of our program and the work that we do and why our program exists and it really is an investment not just from the past to today but also for the future as well too so this is another piece so we've got a whole range our applicants can also apply online when they're interested in learning about us we have all the information online I've shown you a hard copy we have our own handbook like we're very autonomous even though we have to follow guidelines and expectations and regulations of the University of Regina we're also very autonomous as well too so it works for us in you know both in the short term and in the long term perfect perfect is there anything else that you'd like to add I would like to highlight and showcase um the the students that we work with come from very high caliber places in terms of their academic learning they pretty much garner a good host of awards anywhere from in one semester because I received the lists of awards they could be anywhere from I don't know 20,000 to 100,000 even though we're a small population the academic achievement of the work that our students do is recognized locally nationally and regionally for that matter in a good way when I first came here six years ago one of our senior students who was getting ready to graduate was nominated and received the very first president's medal award for this program that's a big achievement walking out here with a 90 percent plus average and engaged in leadership and community involvement to be recognized at the institution for those achievements coming through our program and being awarded the president's medal it doesn't get any higher than that for the first time in a very you know since the inception of this program it's a big achievement for us knowing that we have the caliber of students I can't stop thinking about the students and and commend them for the commitment of the work that they do and the academic accolades that they get in various opportunities and I just don't mean monetary heather I think they get opportunities to present at conferences they get an opportunity to showcase the work that they do in classrooms or in schools with other institutions that are surrounding within the city of Regina we've got an event coming up at the end of the month where SAS Polytech instructors are coming to learn about Metis education here and the instructor is facilitating but the students are running the show for lack of warning those types of things are what continues to drive us and keep us going in a good way knowing that they're doing really well and the work that we do with them continues so I think that's important