 We are at the Manitoba First Nation School System and my name is Rockford McKay. I'm the science facilitator here. The Manitoba First Nation School System is the first First Nation school division in Canada and we serve 10 communities in Manitoba. So we are responsible for the kindergarten to grade 12 education for those 10 communities. What I do here is I'm the science facilitator. So I help teachers implement their science programs and help them with curriculum but also do classroom demonstrations. We also have resources that they normally wouldn't have on hand. One of the resources that we like using is a portable planetarium and I'll go to school to school with that planetarium and share a lot of the indigenous knowledge of the star teachings and star knowledge with staff and students. Normally it would be very hard for a lot of our communities to come to Winnipeg and do those kind of activities so it's much easier for us to go to the school with that type of equipment and do that. I also help with a lot of our teachers as I said implement science programming. A lot of them feel not as comfortable teaching science. They don't have a lot of background in science so I help them show that that science is really, they're really experienced in doing science. A lot of times you just don't realize it. We do science every day or see science every day and experience science so I try to bring that out. What I find that is very helpful to our schools is showing how students and staff as I say use science but science is really happening at the local level so I try to make a lot of the activities locally relevant. It's a wide range from covering land-based education all the way up to doing chemistry and physics in high school. We do all sciences. Our big activities of the year is doing the Manitoba First Nations Science Fair. Now that has been happening. This will be the 18th year and we first started out and I recall starting out very small it was Rudy Subedar's brain child back at the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Center and I was a staff member there at the time as well and he had a lot of experience doing science fairs and even at the provincial level so he wanted our students to have this experience as well so we started the science fair at that time and I think we had it was about 20 projects and it was only a few schools that were initially involved and the big thing that we noticed was not only staff but students were a little reluctant to try this out and once we started doing science fairing schools would come that in the next following years they would come students would see what was going on and they come back and say well I can do this too so it started to grow and over the years from that that small start we would have 500 students coming to to our science fair so it it it was a real success that that we saw and that success is you know student that that many students coming for for one thing and and students realizing that yeah science is fun to do it it's part of their their everyday lives and it's it's something that that that they can aspire to do I think looking back at at what I do with the programs I try to show not only again not only teachers but students that we were scientists in the past as well our ancestors were scientists there's there's this notion that we didn't do science and I always tell them well if we didn't do science we or an engineering we we couldn't have survived in in in these harsh climates I would bring a lot of our tools and and and our inventions to show them say for instance a snowshoe that that engineering involved was was incredible and it solved problems that they had in in in their their lives so that is a cornerstone of of engineering if there's a problem you have to gain knowledge to solve and to solve problems in everyday life so that knowledge gained is is really is really in their their methods that they use was was science is as well so they gain knowledge they use that knowledge to solve a problem they they had research as well they knew how the this guy and the the astronomy of this guy so they they they were astronomers they were navigators so this this they were biologists so they they they were scientists and there's a notion a lot of times that our students aren't able to do in-depth science because maybe there's not an aptitude so I I try to change that and and say no we were scientists we were engineers and once students start doing it they they they see that they they can enjoy those those sciences that's a a very interesting question and it's a question that we we we really look at and and a lot of educators just have such a wide view on it and my my view is just one one such view I I think what's what's important or for for myself is is I look at indigenous perspectives on how I how I live today and how we live today um heritage of of course is is part of how we live today so traditional knowledge very important and that that point that we were scientists in the past is very true that's that's our heritage now when we look on how we live today it's quite different than how we lived 200 years ago so we need to bring that perspective and and how do we use it today to let's say to survive and and to to prosper um in in education one of the uh the the points of of education is how are we going to use this education to to live to survive so if if we look say in in in northern manitoba or or any in any of our communities in in manitoba what are let's just think about job prospects and where where can students go to to get jobs now in in manitoba and hydro very important who are getting these hydro jobs um trades are very important of north i've been um you know being i've been traveling all all over manitoba to our communities but i i reflect upon 20 years of of this work and and you know i jump on a plane to go to a remote community and who's who's flying up with me or or trades people from the south and and i always i always wondered to myself why why aren't our students why aren't they the the the technicians the the the trades people the the the line or the the line workers that the workers in hydro or mining or forestry and and that was that was all as a uh a big part of of um i guess my my personal perspectives is is i wanted our students to have the opportunity to get these jobs as well and um so they they needed not only uh traditional knowledge and and what that taught them and and that taught teaches them about who they are which is which is very important because if if you don't know who you are how do you overcome hurdles in life so they they need to know that they need to have this understanding of of of uh where they came from they need to uh to to know how their communities and feel and and think the the the culture of it but they also need to know and and have purpose in in life as well so in in terms of of uh their their skills and and they're being able to to get jobs later in in life science to me was was all is a important way to obtain these high technical jobs in the north or any any jobs we we look at uh pretty well any job in in in modern society now that you would you would be hard-pressed to to find a job that doesn't need um science and mathematics skills so to me and when it came up north i i jump on the that plane like i said and and and i look at the pilots that are are flying these planes to to the remote communities and and i'll sit to myself where are our students where are are the the kree the anishinaabe pilots and and and i could never understand that and and it it's it's an important point that that um that science mathematics technology is is is a a focal point in modern living so those skills are what we need to prosper um that that's one level of of um of my perspective on on how we survive nowadays now so how do we we we get purpose well jobs is is not only the the the main point in life it's uh it's it's do do our students have interest in in the sciences and and they they absolutely do um it's uh and and their interests are are as wide and a variety as as we have for each individual some are interested in in uh in in just basic sciences and on on asking questions about about their their own um communities and and how things work whereas some students are are much more interested beyond that the chemistry the the physics of how things hydro for instance i i see all of that all the time so the there there is a lot of interest out there from students even interest in in coding with robotics and and so it's not just um traditional knowledge that that they're interested in they they are they interested in traditional knowledge absolutely but we can't just focus on that as as well they their interest is is is wide as there are students like like i like i say i think that's the uh a main part when we look at uh who they are is is a person um it's not just about academics it's it's about emotional growth as well and uh so what does that mean to them and and how does science come into it well i i think if if there's a a passion that that ignites the emotion and to me it's it's about finding their passion what what what they have and it may not be science and and and i know that and and uh it may be music it and it may be it may be liberal arts but if if it's science then and and if i see that passion in them well i'll uh i'll i'll try to uh to develop that in in programming and like i say it and and what that means to them could could mean anything what i see with the with the education in the future is is uh uh we we are at a at a point a very interesting point in in uh we we've had uh i guess one or two generations of of uh our communities having um their means to determine what their education is and local local uh local authorities started i guess started in in the in the 70s and we had uh wabong as as a guide to to where we should be going in in indigenous education in manitoba it was and it uh it it is a journey for sure um we we have to have language and culture for sure very very important because if we don't have that uh how can we claim to be uh uh a unique people for for one thing um so that's and and it's our identity so it it it is important now and in in terms of of science that's where that that uh grounding that base has to come from is is our our identity um but it it it goes from there and it it's the foundation of where students go in their lives so um we have right now very uh very low participation rates in in uh science and you know the the STEM area science technology engineering mathematics and and as i say our our modern world is is so heavily dependent on it and i think you know the uh this this path that then and journey that we're we're on we we do show or i try to show um our students that yeah um science is is you have an opportunity to to learn learn more in science if if that's one of your passions um and and that's where again where that that science fairing come in in the past they they may not have had a lot of experience in in in doing science um when i when i first started yeah 20 years ago 30 or almost 30 years ago um there wasn't a lot of of science going on in in in our classrooms over the years it in in the science fairing has helped there's a lot more interest in in doing science in in our classrooms um it's not just because of of science fairing it's it's because of uh specialists and and facilitators at MF NERC and and now the school system um so it it it is a journey and uh hopefully we we have more more students getting into the sciences so what what i see for for the future is is uh is growth in science and and uh it it may be a struggle at times but because science programming is is very expensive and uh and may hopefully the the school system with uh with better funding for for first nation communities that uh hopefully we do see a lot more uh this level of of science programming increase that what it has been in the past um money is not everything and but it it but with science programming uh you need the equipment you need the resources for for for teaching science and and we uh we're just starting out with with those kind of things