 Good afternoon, everybody. It's truly a pleasure to be on Treaty 7 traditional territories and to be part of this spectacular view outside. Isn't that amazing? Wow. I was saying to somebody earlier, I wish I came from here. This is such a nice place. And to be able to have that VISTA be part of that. That must be very, very special to see that on a regular basis. It's certainly nice for us from High Prairie School Division. And just so you know, High Prairie School Division is north. Edmonton is south for us, just to get your bearings in. Where is it located? It's along from the boreal forest of Lester Slave Lake along the lake shore up through the peace country. And so that's where we're from. We're a smaller but very, very culturally rich area with lots of diversity. Which in itself is great and challenging. But I would like to just start by saying that I'm not going to spend much time. We're going to devote our presentation specifically to one school. And we have a lot of terrific things happening. But before I go into further, I just want to say that it was thanks to Solange. And she was using self-deprecation a little while ago saying how she wasn't really important or something like that. But actually for us, she was very important. So Solange came to High Prairie School Division and spoke to our administrators and sprinkled some ideas, spread some sparks around. Some of those sparks didn't gather any fire. But some did. And she worked directly with our schools, a couple of our schools for sure. And one of the schools that she worked with, she worked with directly with the principal of the day at that school. And his name was Mr. Murray Moran. And Murray is now our Assistant Superintendent of Finance. But we've asked Murray if he can come up and tell the story. Here's Murray. Thanks, Evan. And like Evan, I won't take much of your time either because my life is now spreadsheets and numbers. So I don't know how to talk in front of people anymore. Just briefly, this is our team that's here today. I'd like to acknowledge the table over there. There are a bunch of administrators and HPSD staff there. And we're happy that they could come with us. They're all part of this project that we've been working on in trying to close ultimately the FNMI achievement gap. So moving on to George P. Vanier. When I was principal of George P. Vanier, and we had our initial presentation from Solange, I knew that we had to approach our FNMI learners with a sense of urgency. And I started that process as principal of the school with little or no knowledge. I moved from Calgary to High Prairie. That should give you a context right there. And I knew that we had to do this and we had to do it quickly. Part of my leadership style is I quite like the Nike slogan, just do it. So when I was working with Chantal and Judith, who did the real work, all I could say was let's just do it. Luckily, we had Solange as a resource and then luckily again, Solange came into our school and worked directly with our teachers and our educational assistants. And I think that was the turning point for the culture of our school. And because it wasn't really on anybody's radar, the FNMI achievement gap. It was on administration's radar, but I don't think it was on teachers or EA's radar. In fact, the school GPV is located in a Francophone community. And so you would hear people say, well, we don't have any FNMI learners. But if you looked at the data, what you would see is that for Francophone learners, we had almost an equal number of FNMI learners. And they were not getting the attention that they rightly so needed. So for me as principal, I had three goals in working with Solange. One was community engagement. Second was post-secondary transition. How can we get every kid to school? And then the third was building cultural understanding. So like I said, with Solange's help, we flew by the seat of our pants. And this is where we're at today. And this is the story of GPV. So I'd like to invite Chantelle, please. My name is Chantelle Nicolette. I'm a friend. Obviously. And I'm a visual arts teacher at GPVani school. Our Aboriginal students are town creed and live off reserve. Many have never been to a pow-wow. They know Kokomintanse, but they have lost their language. And with it, many have lost their spirituality and true identity. They are at the walk in two worlds, many of them lost in both. Near to us, St. Bernard Residential School in Gruard only closed its doors in 1961, after taking hundreds of children away from their families and communities year after year. As a school division, it is estimated that 65% of our Aboriginal youth are grandchildren of those who have survived residential schools. Please allow me to share with you a little bit of my own background, and you'll see where I'm going with this. I was born and raised in this community, in this school. My French parents and grandparents are from here, my aunts, uncles and cousins. My school years were a time of joyful learning and growth. I was raised to be an active and responsible community member. After graduating from high school, I truly thought I knew everything there was to know about my community, where I come from and where I'm going. After graduating from the University of Alberta, I truly thought, again, that I knew everything there was to know about education. I'm getting somewhere with this. After working and traveling with students and teachers in many countries, as such as Switzerland, Vietnam, Australia and Brazil, I really thought I knew everything about teaching children of all ages and of many cultural backgrounds. When I decided to return to my hometown with my Calgaryian husband and two children, I found myself teaching First Nations students for the first time. And for the first time, I realized that I know very little about what it means to be a successful teacher here in Alberta and in Canada, for that matter. I soon realized how little I know about Aboriginal culture and history, how little I know about my own community, my own neighbors. Sure, we had textbooks with chapters, colonization, confederation, but I had never heard of Treaty 8. I had never heard of Treaty 8. I had never heard of residential schools in my backyard. I had never experienced the beauty and power of a powwow. How little do I know about my home and late native land. How many teachers are just like me? I guess that's why we're here today, to do better, to provide a better education and a brighter future for our sons and daughters, for all young Canadians. I believe teachers hold a special key, a key to the mind and hearts of our children. I know this key comes with a great responsibility. For that reason, I know. I will never know everything, and I will never stop learning. Allow me to share with you a poem that was shared with me by one of my students at lunchtime. His name is Gavin Anderson, and he asked if he could share a poem he wrote before coming to our school, and that's where this picture comes from. White Walls by Gavin Anderson. White Walls encase my mind. Here I am not free. Imagination is contained, ordinary I shall be. I can't dream in this place. I put up a fight, try to be tough, checkered floors are not enough. Imagination, how tall could I grow and grow and grow? The ceiling has become so low. The more I struggle, the tighter the squeeze. At my desk I feel less and less at ease. I tremble and freeze, I do not speak. No story to tell, no picture to call my own. Where love is torn and sliced to bits, imagination does not exist. Why should I care? White Walls are everywhere. I don't want a single child to feel that way about school. I feel very grateful to be able to teach art. I get to play with kids all day long. Teaching art is a wonderful way to celebrate local culture and to ignite a spirit of pride and belonging. In the past few years, our students have created cultural art to embellish the walls of our school and of our communities. Here are some examples of our four feet by four feet art boards that are being circulated throughout our school and throughout our community. Over 100 framed works of art shine not only in our school but in our senior citizens' residence, medical clinics, restaurants and sports facilities. Artwork is labeled in French, English and Cree. In our community, all students can say, this is my school, this is my town, I care about this place and I painted that. Parents, grandparents can brag about their children's artistic abilities as they discuss the weather, the crops and the new baby in the family. In addition to building connections and relationships through the arts, we knew we needed to start focusing on our Aboriginal students and the way they see themselves. How can we integrate Aboriginal perspectives when our students can barely identify themselves as FNMI students, First Nation Mee-Chun and Nguyen. We decided that what we needed for our school was an Aboriginal culture club. We have since created this club with the idea to provide an opportunity for our FNMI students to get together, have fun, learn and replace a feeling of shame with a feeling of pride, confidence and belonging when it comes to being an Aboriginal student at Jitizani School. When we started our club last school year, many students were shy, hesitant and even embarrassed when it came to talking about being Aboriginal. I remember walking around the school asking kids, Tristan, would you like to join our Aboriginal culture club? Who me? Yeah, you, Tristan. He looked around to see if anybody heard me say that. Are you an FNMI student? I don't know. Are you an FBI teacher? I don't get it, Tristan. French, British, Irish. I don't call you FBI. I don't really like being called FNMI. I'm Cree, Taylor's Metis, Kathleen's Inuit, not FNMI. Good point. Are you joining us this afternoon? We're going to have an Aboriginal culture club activity. We're going to sing and drum and circle dance. Who could resist? Okay, I'll check it out. But by the way, it's called a round dance. I'm coming from learning a square dance and a lion dance in gym class. Like I said, I have a lot to learn. I remember having a conversation with a new grade 7 student, Michelle, why didn't you make flutes with us this afternoon? Oh, I didn't know I could join in. Well, are you Aboriginal? I don't know. Is your last name Labocan? Yes. Are you First Nation Metis or Inuit? I don't know, but I can ask my cook them. Guess what? You're in. This year, rather than recruiting students, we knew we were First Nations. We had students popping in asking to join, claiming to be Metis publicly for the first time in their lives. Are you sure you're Metis Owen? Oh, yes. That's my mom. Call her. Okay. Hi, Mrs. Gannett. I'm calling about your son, Owen. Oh, yes. What happened? What do you do? Oh, I was just wondering, we're having an Aboriginal Culture Club activity and Owen would love to join us as a Metis student. Owen is sharing his excitement. Although we don't have this on our school records. Is this right? Yes, it is. Reply to his mother, I am Metis. My apologies. I did not check off the status box and registering my son. Mrs. Gannett, may I ask you why not? I didn't want to disadvantage my child. This statement spoke for itself. Children are now approaching their parents and asking them about their own cultural history. A feeling of doubt and hesitation by our Aboriginal students has been replaced by excitement, joy and pride. When a new student Terry joined us this year, his mother approached me and said, I was worried about my son fitting in here. This was a big move for him. But when I found out about your Aboriginal Culture Club, I knew he was going to be happy here. And I said, thank you for making my day. With our Aboriginal Culture Club, we have shared many experiences. Most of them knew to me and many of them knew to our kids as well. We have invited community leaders such as Devin Bellrose here with us today. To host student workshops including drumming, storytelling, artwork and hand games. We have invited David Ratchery to lead a traditional flute making workshop. We have invited Alfonso Cook and Beatrice Sutherland to host an Aboriginal craftsmanship day. We have taken our kids to powwows, round dances and feasts. Here are a few pictures of the first powwow I had ever been to. We've taken our students to a feature film at the High Prairie Movie Theatre We had 175 students viewing the film. The great surprise was the award-winning actress Roseanne Superno from High Prairie flew into town to meet with students at the end of the film. She's a wonderful role model for our kids. One of my favorite lines by our star actress was the following. I don't drink, I don't do drugs and I'm fun. I have lots of celebrity friends. I go to night clubs and everyone knows I'm the sober fun one. She told them of all the opportunities students have because they are Aboriginal youth in Canada. Take your phone, kids. Google it. Opportunities for Aboriginal youth in Canada. And so they did. We have also hosted an annual family night for our students and their families. The amount of guests attending family night doubled within the second year of our club. Family night is the best opportunity for us to meet and gather with children and parents, staff included. Building relationships of trust and respect have opened the lines of communication between school personnel, students and families. Back to our young poet Gavin. He has recently written a new poem. Allow me to share it with you. Gavin is the one with the bigger hair. One has the great long hair, one has the big hair. Under the lilac tree by Gavin Anderson. They carry the mahogany chair and the cane rocker out to sit under the lilac tree and the wicker pram there's a baby. That baby is me. Our clapboard house it's on the hill gazing at the sunset still. This was our world. I can see a shaft of grass on my fingers feeling its rasp. I can draw the map of every lilac leaf and the net of veins on my father's grief-ridden hands under the lilac tree remembering and remembered. Our group of Aboriginal students I know I'm short on time I'm getting there. Three minutes, okay. Our group of Aboriginal students has greatly evolved within the first two years of our culture club. They have become much more confident and knowledgeable when talking about where they come from and what that means to them. We have since began sharing more cultural activities and celebrations with our entire student body. All of our junior high students for example have recently participated in a drumming workshop led by Devin Belrose. All students from 7 to 12 have enjoyed the fabulous storytelling and flute playing of David Bouchard. I was going to share a poem but I'll skip it because I don't have time. As an art teacher I have a tendency to focus on colors although I do understand the power of numbers. Allow me to share with you a few numbers which might be of interest to you. Since we first started focusing on our Aboriginal students FNMI dropout rates have fallen from 12.3 to 5.7%. Attendance has risen from 68 to 82%. What do these numbers mean for teachers? 30 more days of kids attending school. 30 more days of Tristan present in his daily math class can definitely be the difference between failing and passing that class. Although we've come a long way in the past few years we know this is only the tip of the iceberg. There's always much more to learn and much more we can do. This leads us to the next chapter in our journey. Judith Coulter, my co-worker and friend at GP Vanney School is here to share with you some of our most recent undertakings in helping our students transition from high school into a happy and successful adult life. Thank you very much. Hi there. Our project as you can see takes the bottom up approach instead of the top down and our Aboriginal students are learning to do and learning to be and our efforts are helping our school community with learning to relate and learning to know. As our Aboriginal students do and be and grow in confidence our staff and school community have more awareness of Aboriginal students their culture and cultural diversity in our school. In addition to bringing cultural activities into the school and integrating FNMI perspectives into the classroom we've felt that it was important for students to explore opportunities available to them in the wider world. We want to develop leadership skills in our Aboriginal students and get them thinking about their future goals. Our first trip was to Edmonton to the Dream Catchers Conference at Grant McEwen University and we also went to the Nate Open House and Mar-Vell College. For many it was the first time out of the community staying in a big hotel and visiting the West Edmonton Mall. Dream Catchers was exciting and scary with interesting sessions and activities but if you would ask our students what they enjoyed the most about the opportunity it was to speak with an elder. One of our major challenges is that we have been unable to find an elder within our community. Our trip to the Nate Open House connected our foods and IA courses with employment opportunities in the trades and Mar-Vell College ties in with our cosmetology courses. Our second trip was to Peace River and Peace River High School hosted an Aboriginal career fair. The information was presented from an Aboriginal perspective and it's really exciting to see a lot of the colleges and universities having their Aboriginal centers that help them transition from the smaller communities out into the bigger world. The ties, it's interesting also the ties in with the dual credit programs that our students are already pursuing at our school. Also we have a philosophy at our school amongst the staff and the grad coach that we don't want anybody to close any doors doors on opportunities by taking easy courses. So we encourage students to be taking the challenge and looking at their future and be it in the trades or attending a higher post-secondary education college or university. This drive to be the best that they can be. When we went to the Peace High Aboriginal career fair there was an individual there from the University of Calgary that presented two condensed units from the Native Ambassador Post-Secondary Initiative Personal Leadership Program and all of our students really enjoyed that. Our third trip was to Spirit Seekers Conference at Grand Prairie Regional College and in addition to the amazing sessions that they had there and the feast and the student awards that they had and the round dance it was just the capper for me when an Aboriginal student told me this. I'm going to be here next year and I'm going to join the circle of Aboriginal students and help plan next year's conference because this was absolutely amazing. Another of our colleagues couldn't be here today, Leona Lebrac and so I'm going to briefly tell you that Leona helps our Aboriginal students find their roots. She works closely with a liaison worker from our local hospital and with our students and their families to help fill out their paperwork for their Metis and Treaty Cards. Leona's work is extremely important because many of our Aboriginal students don't know much about their family history or which nations or settlements they belong to. Metis and Treaty Cards allow our Aboriginal students to access things like dental care, post secondary opportunities and summer youth programs and that's all I have to say at this time I'd like to introduce you to Devin Belrose, one of our key collaborators. Thank you. Huki, Danita Amboestitz Tanzeh Devin Belrose Kosika Son Tatagao C.P. Otzeh I come to you from what's traditionally called Tatagao C.P. or the Driftpile River and it's a great honour to be able to stand here and introduce myself in that way. In 1899 on the shores of the Lesser Slave Lake in a sacred place called Willow Point Treaty 8 was established by Chief Canusio and the rest of the headmen. The longest journey that a person makes is from their head to their heart and I want to thank Chantel today for speaking from her heart and often that's a very challenging thing to do. My Mushom the late Eddie Belrose used to say first we listen then we learn and then we understand that's the process for education for us as Native people and I don't think it's too different from the rest of the people in this room the communities in which you come from the families, the home fires which you represent it's been an absolute honour to be a part of the high prairie school division and their initiatives with the Aboriginal kids I come from a community where 80% of our elders were exposed to residential school where the intent of that was to remove the Indian from the child the challenge today is to inspire the individual back into the child and that's what I've heard here all day and that's exciting for First Nations people as that should be exciting for each and every one of you that are participating in that to be able to inspire with what we believe as the beginning of our reconciliation and that's the children that's where it begins it begins with the children to inspire and to say it's okay the language that you speak the families that you come from to be able to honour that and to self-identify that and with that we create an opportunity for growth and I commend each and every one of you for that and I want to thank the High Perry School Division for allowing me to be a part of that growth as well, hi hi