 And it's kind of split between mornings and afternoons. So the first part of the program is the St. Thomas University language courses, their credit. So all of our students have to meet college entrance requirements with St. Thomas University before they can come into the program. The second half is more cultural slash traditional activities. And we use that as a means of teaching students traditional activities. I don't like using the word art, crafts, in that sense. Because at one time, that's not what it was. So they learn different aspects of malice history, culture, activities that our people used to do. And also as a language lab. So they can use what they've learned in the morning and get the instructors try to reinforce it in the afternoon. So then we also, for the second part, will bring in others from outside of the program, such as an elder or a craftsperson, to teach activities that do go beyond the scope of what the instructors are able to teach. So for example, while they may have made baskets in the past, the instructors wouldn't not know how to teach that. So we would get somebody to come in. And we teach basically just the basics of an activity. So for example, today, they're gone to pick red willow, which is traditionally used as tobacco. So they'll go and they'll learn about red willow. And then what they'll do is they'll scrape it. And they've just recently made tobacco poaches. So they'll use that to put in the tobacco poach. And then that activity will be complete. So in the future, some activities that we have planned would be making ash baskets, hand drums. They're going to learn to snare. They're not actually going to snare, but they'll learn how to snare because there are men in the program and women, too, who are very interested in the hunting and fishing and gathering aspects of our culture, right? But have not had any opportunity to engage in that type of activity. I guess that's what it boils down to. So I mean, we have really kind of strict guidelines for entrance. We have an application process that needs to be gone through. So they have to fill out an application. They have to write an essay, a 200-word essay, why they want to take the program, what they plan to do with it, when they're done, how they're going to give back to the community, which is all in efforts for revitalization and preservation of the language and culture. And not just for people in the community, but for people everywhere. So over the past, we started in 2011. And each program is two years. So we went 2011 to 13, 2013 to 15, 15 to 17. And now we're on 17 to 19. Without all of the funders, the program as a whole right now wouldn't be possible. Like, Ray, we would have the St. Mary's, St. Thomas part but without the Department of Canadian Heritage who has given us generous funding over the last six years. They make the afternoons possible. So it does form a complete, comprehensive program for both linguistic and cultural competency, I guess. So you guys must teach about the Jewish food students. They do. Yeah, they do. In the fall of the programs, they go out and they'll pick river grapes. They'll go pick blueberries, blackberries, butternuts, all kinds of medicine and tea leaves. Yeah, yeah. And then they'll learn how to cook Indian soup, Indian corn soup, although corn's hard to get. And I think we did move stew once, but we were going to try for muskrat stew, but it was like a no-go. We even got the muskrat, but nobody was like. So there are some things that, you know, but there are people who still do muskrat stew and eat it, right? So, but, you know, the younger ones today, I guess, are interested. So yeah, so I kept a muskrat in a freezer for a while, and then it just didn't blow over. And the same with snaring, too. We tried it last year. And weather permitting, of course, as well. But a lot of people were like, I'm not going to kill no rabbit, right? You know, that's how the environment and conditions of our environments change, right? Because we've been told that to do that is wrong. But we've lived that way for millennia. Our people, like, rob it, right? Because they had to. That was what they ate. So a lot of students were, like, really apprehensive about doing that activity. So we just kind of put it down, OK, but we'll teach you how to set up the snares. So if you want to go ahead and do it on your own, so be it. So that's what we'll go ahead with this year. You have said that age groups pretty much. Well, the age groups is adult. It is an adult program, so 18. And although we have tried to stop the age around 50 to 55, there's reasons. We kind of always let that slide, right? Because I mean, nobody really should ever be denied their language. But at the same time, we are a program where you have to meet college criteria. So if you can't meet that, then, unfortunately, you can't be in the program. So what we have found is a lot of older people have proven difficult to master or even come close to mastering. The native language is the second language. It is only open to those of malicean ancestry. Hopefully in the future, that we can look at extending that beyond the scope of our communities. It depends on how much work they put into it, too. This language is not easy. And it's not easy to learn as a second language. So it depends on the amount of work that you put into it. It's what you're going to take out of it. The aim of the program is for the preservation or revitalization of the malicean language. Our language is now above-critically endangered. So in worldwide, I think we might have 500 fluent speakers. There's all kinds of people who can say hello or see later or thank you. And there are people who are able to understand what other people are saying, but can't speak it. You know what I mean? So right now, we are above-critical, and we have to do something. So hence, Andrea is starting this program. And now, we have seen other communities and other people doing different things within the language, like Ron's starting his thing, right? And people have reached out to you. Not so much reached out. No, because there's a lot. As much as people who would say the program was exemplary, there would be people out there who would say these are the opposite. And that's one thing you have to take into consideration, is everybody's got an opinion in who's is right and who's is wrong. We're just all we're trying to do is promote the language, preserve what language we've got, revitalize what language we've got. It opens students up to a post-secondary education, which some of them may never have done before. And over the last few years, too, we're starting to see family connections. Like while Tony and Alma took the program together. So there was a grandmother and a granddaughter. And then now Tony's teaching. Now her aunt is a student. So previous students, we had one girl last year. Now her brother is taking it this year. A girl last year. Now a sister is taking the program. So we're starting to actually build some connections between family members who have taken the program and who are now taking the program. And I think that that's great, because that's kind of the start. But in all actuality, we have no child speakers in this community, none. So that's when you hit the critical and above critical conditions. So that's what that program that we were talking about earlier. Andrea is trying to get into putting immersion in preschool levels. What, in your opinion, makes it an example of excellence in indigenous education? I wouldn't even know how to answer that. I think it's community-based. So there's one. It reaches out to a wide range of age group. It opens up the possibility of going beyond the two years here at a post-secondary level. Students have come here and then have moved on to post-secondary in different fields, like even at the Croft College. Because of all the activities that we teach, it's kind of given people a little personal knowledge about themselves that, oh, I didn't know I could do that. And language is what connects you and me. It connects you and me to the land. It connects us to all of our ancestors and to the future generations. And with that, I think that students, and this is just from watching them, have gained a better sense of identity, of who they are and where they come from. And sometimes, why things are the way that they are. So there has been an aspect of healing, small amounts. But it's working. And in the lieu of residential schools, I can't speak personally to that. But there are a lot of, we've had one, a few students who were residential school survivors. And the impact showed, I don't know if that's a word. Is it showed? Through in their ability to speak. They weren't able to. They had a hard time. Some were latent speakers. There was this, we had one woman, and she could pretty much understand. But if you went to test her, or even just going around the room in demonstration, she'd just come up. But she could understand what was being said. So there's all different aspects that you hit on. And we've learned a lot in the last six years of what to do, what not to do. And so we're putting those best practices in so that we can provide positive experience for the student. If we give them a positive experience, then they're more apt to be more successful. And you know, we're different than the other people out there. I'm sorry about we are. And every aspect, from social, economic, to political, to, and it all affects us. And the language is common, is one common kind of, well, it should be the free zone type of thing. You know what I mean? Even though it's not, there's still, you know, there's critics out there. So I just think that being able to provide positive experience and providing, being able to work with students to the best of the instructor's abilities. Because going into post-secondary, you have people who have never been there. You've had people who have been there. And what's expected. So just being able to work with them and just seeing the students' engagement and things. Like a lot of students take the program because they want to make, you know, a job. Or that's what they draw to the program is not just learning the language, but learning the traditional activities as well. Just out of curiosity, a question that you had, or an answer that you had said before where you said there were positive and negatives. Like you learned the positive and the negatives when you were teaching the language, what were they? What do you mean? Like you said, when you got over first starting. Well, for example, in the first, in our pilot project, we had instructors who were all elder. So one, like Victor, he came in to teach this program. Had just learned to read and write it in the teeter system, okay? Because we use teeter orthography in our program, not past McQuaddy writing system, okay? So there is a difference. So like he had to come and learn to read and write it, and then he came in and taught, okay? Now there were other elders that came in and taught, but they couldn't connect with students. They didn't have any class management skills. Didn't know how to deal with problems that might arise, students not showing up, and would voice them in front of people. And do you know what I mean? So like there were issues there with class management skills, and we rectified those. We got a course in class management from a professor at St. Thomas in the education department, and I took it along with the instructors and we were like, oh really? That was something we learned. And then so the first in the pilot project, in the second year, we put out a notice to accept semi-fluent speakers. So they were brought in, interviewed, tested a bit for their language skills. We brought them in, not a great idea, okay? There was I think two people who actually were brought in in that second year who finished completely. But not only did it prove unsuccessful for them, it also held back the first years because we thought that these people would be up to speed with everything that we've gone over so that didn't work out. So we learned, okay, so once we bring somebody in in the first year, these are the people we go with for two years. Without bringing in anybody new. Came along ways. We've had people who couldn't teach, learned to teach, and now we have students who took the program who are now teaching with the guidance of our very first lead instructor. So I mean, that's progress in and of itself. That's a positive, I guess. What's your vision for Indigenous education? Well, I can only speak to this program. So that's what I'll speak, is that, you know, I hope that this program continues to the point where we have people conversing in malice to one another wherever they go. So for example, I went to a language conference in Halifax in the fall. There was a lot of Mi'kmaq people there from different Nova Scotia communities. I'm not quite sure if there was any Mi'kmaq from New Brunswick, but one from one community talked to another from another community. Some of, and they didn't, they chose to speak in their own language. They didn't choose English. Like, how lucky is that? That's what I'd like to see is, and we've had students from different communities. We've had some Woodstock people take the program in the past, and we now have some more Makdo people taking the program now, this year. So I mean, we're kind of, it's not just clothes, it's not St. Mary's. But it would be just, that's what I'd like to see it. And then to see these people who have taken the program get involved in creating that child speaker. That is the goal. When we can start to create child speakers in a community. That's when we can only begin to see a language shift taking place. What information, materials, resources do you need to achieve this vision? Well, aside from funding, which is like the major thing that we need. Well, I think that we need to have all of our Malseat communities on the same page. I think that people who express the interest in learning the language, however they learn it, I'm not just saying that this is the program to take. There's all kinds of different ways that people can learn their languages these days. This is not the only way. So I just don't want everybody to think that I'm just sitting here promoting this program and putting down everybody else's, because I'm not doing that. But if those people who express a desire to learn the language, that they give it away, and that we learn to speak to each other in Malseat, in our native tongue, I guess. So I mean, you have to have that. So you have to have people's desires to want to learn the language, to want to be able to go out into a community, whatever community, and teach what they know. So maybe they don't know a lot, but teach what you know, and just make sure it's right. You know, right now, with Jolene coming on board full time this year, and she has a BED, so she has the experience that our previous instructors don't have, like the ability to set up a classroom and to find different resources that will contribute to people learning better in more effective ways. So there isn't a lot of that in Malseat right now. We should be in charge of our own education of our children, for one. So in having to do that, it should be in our language for two. Do parents agree with that? No, because I mean their experience with residential schools, their experience of their own education, their parents' education is generational. It's come down the line, and whether or not you know it or I know it, we're affected, we really are. So that is something that should be done too, but in order to do that, you need everything in Malseat. You need books, you need curriculum, you need music, you need computer, you know, everything needs to be in a system in which Malseat can be expressed. So until all that is done, how much will we learn, how much will we teach? It might be limited right now, but I think that the more people who get in to learning their language and can go out into different aspects of the community at large, not just their Malseat community and in telecommunications or like on a computer or in an app or an iPhone or, and to put that all in there, in the language, because that will only contribute to other people being able to learn the language. So that's what I see, but with no funding, none of it's possible, unless the chiefs get together and come to the decision that this is what we need, and these are the amount of dollars that are gonna go. I mean, you probably have to look at Indian affairs and we still haven't got any real promises from Truth and Reconciliation. Where's all those promises? A lot of things need to be, a lot of things need to be done in order for us to continue. And right now language seems to be all the hype and let's hope that it's not just a fad. And another thing too is elders need to come forward because the stage has been set for elders, knowledge keepers, artisans to receive money for everything they do. And it's not cheap. I mean, we have great artists from here, no, their work shouldn't be free. But I mean, if the elders who know the language, they need to come forward and somehow share that without the expectation of a monetary payment because not everybody has that, those means. That's another thing. I mean, in Tobic, where you're from, they would have the most speakers out of all the communities. And I think the most elders, right? I mean, our speaking elders are getting fewer and far between as of right now, like there's not very many from St. Mary's at all. And I mean, language is a life learning process. So I mean, as much as Tony and Jolene can teach the language, they'll never stop learning themselves. So there's something else we need. We need to have more instruction for those who teach the language, especially newer language learners like Tony and Jolene, who've only been speaking for about five years. We need to keep them learning and learning and learning above and beyond what they're doing right now. So like if you take an elder who is teaching in an elementary school, they might know how to teach orally, but do they know how to teach on an app or do you know what I mean? In other ways and means that are more functional in today's society. So that's another thing.