 My name is Joe McLeod. I work with the kids in the Native Child Welfare Program here in Nipissing First Nation. From my perspective as a knowledge holder, what knowledge is important that I would like to pass on to the next generation. I'm not a very big knowledge keeper like I just work with kids and we do a lot of land-based stuff to help them. These are kids at risk. So what I would like to pass on to the next generation is like I don't have a whole bundle of teachings that you know I can give away or anything but my job in the community as a helper is to help people and if I can give that value to the kids you know if I can touch them in any way it would be that it would be to to make them enthusiastic about helping people you know in anything you know and to watch out for our elders you know that's a big thing when there's you know we're having events going on you know we watch for our elders and I'm constantly trying to give that to our kids it's important to help so if there's one thing that I can pass on it would be that that along with the seven grandfather teachings we're working a lot with that and these are great great values to have as a human being in general. So those two things well it would be eight things right because there's seven teachings and then the one helping but that's what I would like to if there was anything that I can help with. I talk to the kids lots about values because I've grown kind of attached to them in a sense that you know they're they're like my kids you know I don't have kids right so I treat them as if you know not as if they're my own but you know as if how I would give to my kids if I had kids right you know so I'm constantly talking to them about and I deal with boys I deal with mostly boys so I'm talking to them constantly about values you know about respect about I've been talking to them a lot lately about sex and it's a difficult topic to talk about because I've never done that before so it's kind of sensitive for some of them but they trust me and you know I lay it out you know in plain English to them that you know like I'm gonna be with you guys here for you know a lot of them are 13 14 years old so my age bracket is 13 to 24 and so I'm gonna have them for another 10 years so I've been telling them to be safe you know and if they do engage into that type of activity at the appropriate age to protect themselves and to be careful and to be respectful towards women you know those are very important things because you know I jokingly tell them I don't need them pushing a baby carriage down Gardenville's road but it's important that you know that they be aware of those things also you know all these things I care about these kids and you know and I want them to go in a good way you know I was I do stuff outside of program with them also you know we hang out sometimes we go to the movies and all that but I talk to them a lot you know I reach out to them and try to connect with them and keep that connection there steady as as our relationship goes on in life these are brand new friends to me you know there are people they're human beings and there are future so they're very important and means a lot to me that that I steer them and do my job you know it's it's outside of work too you know it's just not it's not just at work you know it's my heart's in this in this community and and I give it to these kids so I like the land-based aspect of my job you know I'm not a pro hunter or fisher but all of these things that I do with the kids you know we go in the bush we went moose hunting this year we went fishing we went ice fishing we you know we did we set snares we set a beaver trap we caught a beaver all of these things are ways of our people and and there's a there is a connection there you know that I didn't have for a long time you know I was I was born and raised as a non-cultural you know my grandparents raised me for the most part and I was raised in the catholic church and I was told to speak French and I was told to not speak my language you know I was told that all of these things that I'm doing when I wanted to learn about pow wow I wanted to learn about sweat lodge I wanted to learn about these things that I'm connected to naturally I wanted to learn about those things but I was told by my family that those things they're not going to help in any way so there was a portion of my life that I just shunned everything all of these cultural things all of these things that make me me all of these pieces of my identity you know I shunned that for a long time thinking that that was right you know thinking that that was my and believing that that was my journey and and I was wrong you know it was but that was what they knew you know that was what my grandparents knew and they did their best but it wasn't until you know a few years ago that I started working at the culture center and grabbed onto that again you know and who I was all these cultural pieces and land-based teachings and you know just jumping in head first and and I didn't know anything you know and I still have lots to learn but that part that missing piece of my life is back in there again you know so I feel fulfilled in the sense that I'm whole again like I'm a whole person without these teachings without our way without our culture without our language without you know hunting in the bush and fishing in the lake and maintaining that balance too you know like for you know we don't want to we don't want to overfish the lake we don't want to kill all the animals in the bush but all of that is who we are and I'm able to embrace that again today so which brings a lot of gratitude in my life and it fulfills me spiritually and emotionally and it's it's the most wonderful feeling in the world I wish I could just share it with everybody but these our way is just a beautiful beautiful way on how to live and there's no textbook you know look there's no textbook that I have to read to go through and learn it it's it's there you know like it's it's it's in my heart and so if you know I heard Tory Fisher say when he brought our kids for a walk in the bush back here and a language hike and he said uh you know this was our classroom and and that was just really wonderful to hear him say that you know like because it was you know a long time ago it was it was our classroom being in the bush and and learning you know and that time of the season was springtime and then we went through the seasons you know and all of these everything about is just beautiful like you know like you talk about seasons you know we didn't have a calendar we didn't have numbers on a calendar we didn't have months of the year it was times of the year you know and we understood that and we prepared for them and we lived them and right now it's storytelling time you know and it's uh and I'm learning you know I have lots to learn you know I don't know everything but I'm grateful to to be in this position you know and to to be open to these teachings because they are our truths and I hope the momentum keeps going with it because we've built a momentum here if there's just one thing I could say about our kids here in Nipissin First Nation is that they're fearless and they're resilient and they won't let anything stand in front of them you know when I watch them you know with uh anyone you know they build a sweat lodge they go at it and you just they're they're not afraid uh with anything and we built a big lodge um and they weren't afraid to do that just you know clean fish you know they get their hands dirty you know it's wonderful to just see them build not just structural things like sweat lodge or or or teaching lodges but build themselves you know they're building themselves inside as Nishinaabe people and um and the one component that uh I really would love to just see in them one day's language you know they come sometimes you know we provide transportation to language class through native child welfare where I work and the kids are are they're involved with sports and in school so a lot of times they can't come and but it's a huge part of who we are and it's just a wonderful thing to hear you know is our language so I hope you know I hope that they can get more involved in language you know our Nishinaabe language is very very special and it's beautiful I would like to see more more land-based stuff in in in our education you know I have a buddy who's working up north his name I won't use his name but he's a good friend of mine and he used to teach at Scholar Hall uh St. Joseph's Scholar Hall and he's working up there and half their day is land-based and the other half is in the classroom so it's just it's really really really wonderful if we can implement that you know here there'd be awesome you know along with language along with along and ceremony too you know we have to incorporate ceremony in our way you know that's our church you know I believe that's my belief that that's our church that's where I get spiritually fed is in ceremony you know in uh when we're smoking the pipe when we're in lodge when we're in sweat lodge when we're in circle when we're in talking circle any type of circle you know when we're sharing and uh and we're eating you know the look that's important and I think that ceremony should be implemented in in education as well so hopefully within the next 10 years you know we can we can work towards that um right now we have we seem to work pretty good together in administration we formed some teams in there and and things are successful in that sense and and that's what I would like to see