 I'm Sheila Porter. I do two programs. First is the after-school program for KD First Nations in the Gold River community. Second, I do a youth group for the RCMP Foundation in the Gold River community as well. Well, in the after-school program, it's from grade primary to grade five. So five years to ten years. And then in the youth group, it's where they go from there. So grade six to last year was the first start of it. We went to grade eight. This year we have went to grade 12. So we've made it from grade six to grade 12. So to encompass all of those First Nations students that live in a KD First Nations community and also the ones in the surrounding area of the Chester Gold River area. It's to, the after-school program is to help the children to gain cultural knowledge, to encourage them to embrace who they are as young MiGMA individuals. And also to, we teach them life skills. We get some basic MiGMA language through arts, crafts, presentations, some hands-on activity. We do life skills, we do baking, we do cooking, cleaning, different things that they're going to do. Reading, we also work on the academics and try to encourage them to be successful in school. So it's a, it's a big encompassing plus. Plus we also get some recreation outside with different things. Take a few trips here and there. Things that are educational but also cultural. We really focus a lot on the cultural aspect for the children. And in the Gold River Eagle Feather, Gold River Eagle Feather Youth Group, which I'll just call the Youth Group, that name we gave it last year. That was done in conjunction with the RCMP Foundation. They had a donor in the Chester area who wanted to support something to happen for the children there. So I was approached and we felt the RCMP officer, liaison officer in the schools. We sat down and we talked about it. That would be Constable Rod Francis at the time. We decided to sit down and look at what it would be for the children grade six to eight. Because that's where we felt that we were losing them after the after-school program. We just wanted this to be as to the next stepping stone for them to continue. So that's what we, that's why we created that as a pilot project last year. But we got the approval to run it again this year. The fact that the children come to the program, they're engaged in the program while we're there. In the youth, in the after-school program, like I said it's from grade one to five, grade primary to five. When they get to grade five they don't want to leave. So they volunteer to come after their school to the after-school program to help out. So to me, I feel that they really want to be engaged. They still want to continue what we're doing. The youth group is just, as I mentioned, a stepping stone so the next, it's just the next progressive staff. And all of those kids that were in the after-school program go to the youth group. Plus, all in the area. So I think for the attendance, for the amount of students I have, and they're there, they come every week, they're engaged, they want to be there, they want to learn the cultural piece. In fact, they're asking for, you know, I ask them for suggestions of what they would like to learn, what they would like to do, and they offer those suggestions. So I try to make those suggestions happen because that's going to keep them coming back. But in the middle school, the youth group, when you've got food, these kids are going to come because they love food. And that's always a fun aspect for us. In the Big Mall culture, we always have a feast. So in our groups, we always have snack of some sort. Perhaps it's a little larger than the ordinary snack. I've been known to do that. But anyways, the kids love it. They love the food. They come. They know I'm going to be cooking, baking or something for them. So yeah. So they come, but they really, they're really in, they're really embracing while they're there. Absolutely. I see a change. When I was thinking, I have this great primary student last year in the after-school program who would not, he was very shy. So when we asked him if he wanted apple juice or milk or if he wanted, you know, this cracker or cheese, at first he would just point his eyes to it. He wanted that. Or he'd point, and he'd point his eyes to it. He wouldn't speak to us. So we let that go on for a little bit because we thought he's shy, you know, kind of just, okay, encouraged him to snack. But this year, totally different boy. He's come so far because we kept encouraging him and nurturing him, okay, this is what this, you want this? You have to speak to us. And this is what you say. So it was a matter of, did he not know what to say or not? We think he did. However, he's really come out of his shell and with the other kids there as well. Because they live in the community. They live around each other, and which can be good and bad when you're in a small group in a small community. But these kids, like, we really see how they've embraced. So this is just one from one year to the next. When you start at grade primary and they go to grade five, they've learned so much. And I had one boy tell me who's in the youth group who went through the after-school group. Just the other day he told me all the things that he made at the after-school program when he was there. And we made all kinds of cultural things. We made this, we did that. He said, I have it all at home in my room. I have things hung up on my wall. I have this, I have that. He goes, I have it all. And so, which is really, it's very touching. And now that he's in the youth group and we're, when we did it last year, it was grade six to grade eight. He was in grade eight. And he lamented that what was going to happen the next year, because he was going into grade nine. And I told him not to worry about it. We would work it out. And so that's why we increased it to go to grade 12. We don't have any grade 12 students right now, but that's fine. We can leave it open for them. But this boy, of course, he's there. And he's, he's very engaged in the activities that we're doing so far this year. So I think that when, when they embrace it, that's a success. And when they're, when they, when they, when they tell you those things, usually with the after-school program, we, we do up a report. And now we didn't do this last year, but previous years, we had an independent person from the Katie First Nations health center. She interviewed all the kids to find out what they thought of the program. And I'm considering doing that with the youth group as well. And so with that, I wasn't in the room with the children. They were in the room themselves. And she spoke to each of them as to what they thought of the program. And it was very interesting because she shared some of the results with them, with them with me later. And the children really like it. They want it more sugar one year, which not going to happen. You know, just sometimes some of the funny things, you know, one year they said that Sheila was, she was strict, but she was nice about it. So, you know, it's kind of funny hearing it from their perspective. But as one girl said, I was, I'm teaching her her MiGma culture. And she says, but I wouldn't learn it without if she wasn't here. So when you have little comments like that, it really warms your heart, right? And, and the kids, when they go to the next one, when they go to the, to the youth group, they will, they will embrace that as well. And that may be something that I will put into place this year, because their feedback is very important to me. And whenever we do anything, when we bring in presenters, we bring in drummers, singers, different things that we're bringing in, hands-on activities for them. I always ask them, how did you feel about that? What do you think about this? With the, with the youth group, we have two things that's coming up. We're going to be making drums, we're all high drums. So I have a MiGma gentleman coming from Chippenacote to give them that hands-on exposure. And they're, they're pretty excited about it. And when they come in, each group, when they come in and their face lights up, and they're ready to go for the program, you know, I would say that's, that's enough feedback right there, because they're telling you from week to week. They come each week, and they're ready to be engaged. I think that's, that's, that's, they're telling me there that they love the program, right? Well, I think it's, it's, the education is, the education piece is, is connecting with your culture. And part of that is embracing that language, maybe through arts and crafts, being who they are. We need to bring back our, our true MiGma culture, being that they're being taught from, you know, from our elders, the knowledge keepers, and they're being shown the way things were. And so that they can sing those songs that our ancestors sang. They can understand that where that drum came from. They can understand it's more than just drumming, singing. We've got kids in the program that are also pow-wow dancers, fancy shawl dancers, jingle dress dancers, men's traditional dancer. So when they do that, they're embracing, they hold a pow-wow in the golden of a community. So in the community where these children are. And when the first year that it went that way, there was few of the little kids dancing. And it increased. Now we have some of the youth dancing. Some of them were involved in a drum group. Some of them are dancing on their own. Some of the little ones are excited about getting, getting their regalia and wanting to go dance. I'd like to relate an experience to you that happened also is in 19, oh sorry, not 19, 2013. I think it was 2013. The Governor-General of Canada, who was David Johnston at the time, heard about my program that I have here in Gold River, the after-school program. And on his visit to Nova Scotia, I was put on the agenda and he wanted to come to the program. So when I told the children who was coming and why, so we had things all arranged, they were, the first thing they said was, can we dance for them? And I said, absolutely. So they got, we got their drums, they got their regalia at the head. And when they came, they came, he came, they drummed, some of them danced. Got a little close to each other as they danced around, because they were a bit nervous and that's okay. But in the end, when he came in, we sat around the table and he showed him how, what we did at the program. And I told them to just speak from their heart. I had no idea what they were going to say. I didn't prompt them, I just said, you speak from your heart. So when we went around and I asked them to tell the Governor-General, tell, tell him, tell him your Excellency, what you think of the program. And so they did. And we passed, we made a special talking stick for him, which is in his place in Rideau, Ontario, in Ottawa. We passed it around. And they all got to express what they thought of the program. And then we had an elder percent, Elder Rose Morris, she presented the talking stick to the Governor-General at the end. And so that's something that the children will not forget. Interesting that one little girl says, you know, when I explained who he was, you know, he's the next representative to the Queen. And her thoughts were, well, why can't the Queen come? She says. She loves, she loves to have that. It was, it was quite interesting because she was dancing, she said, then she could have watched me dance. So it's just kind of funny how kids think, and as you're teaching them for them to see that this is, it's who they are. And so when we, when in the summer, just after school starts in September, they have the powwow in their community. So I also do their community, their breakfast each morning, that's there. So the kids are, they come, they want to help, they want to help me in the kitchen now, the youth, the older youth. So which is really good. And when I'm there at the powwow, I'm selling my jewelry after I do the breakfast, have my own booth, and they're back and forth in the booth with me. They're dancing, they're gone, they come back through this, so that they're looking after me, do you need a tea, do you need water? You know, all of these things. So they're giving back as well. So they're learning that that's the make them our way, that we take care of our older ones. And we help. We help in every way we can, but we also give back to our community. And the counselors really notice that. And they see that connection that they have with me. Because they need they need to see that in order to grow. That's I really feel that they need traditional teachings. They need traditional teachings of our Mi'kmaq language. Now, we do have different aspects of it. They're getting some basic knowledge, some basic teachings with the Mi'kmaq language. But I mean, our chiefs are working to bring back that language in our communities. We need our language. And the children are embracing that. I'm also on top of that. I'm also their student support worker in the school system, because I work for Social Regional Center for Education, and I'm the student support worker for all of these students that I have in the after school program and the youth group. So they see a lot. We see a lot of each other. So we're, we're constantly in, in contact. All right. So I see them in school. I see them out of school and the programs. And when we're in school, and we talk about the Mi'kmaq language, they do some of we we use some of that in our after school programs. But also in the singing. So I, you know, I'm not a singer, but I bring people in to teach them how to sing, but to sing a Mi'kmaq and they're, they're embracing it, they're loving it. And I said, it's okay. It's okay if you're not the best singer, I'll sing along. But I can't lead it. But I said, it's okay, just to be happy to sing along. They learned that some people can play a drum. Some people can do the rattle, right? Some people sing, they are finding their strengths. And I think that that's really important for them to find where they're at. So that they can grow. I would love, love, love, love to see a school, a Mi'kmaq school in this part of the province of Nova Scotia, of Mi'kmaq. Down here, we're away from Cape Breton, which is the center, that's a high population. And as you come further down in Nova Scotia, we get less and less. I would love to see our kids there because I see them in school. I see how they connect with their culture. I see how they embrace that. But I see how they struggle and their challenges that they have in the regular school system. We'd love to see them where it's, we go back to the ways of our ancestors in teaching our children. We know how they work. We know how they learn. And having them successful in learning their way, learning our way, hands on learning our way, and being able to express themselves in the Mi'kmaq language, conversing, and they could go wherever they wanted to, be whoever they wanted to be, and really be successful 10 years time. I'd love to see so many students graduate and attend university, so many of our Mi'kmaq students graduate at 10 university, become people of importance to them and really learn along the way who they are, but learn in the way that they can succeed. Not necessarily the way the box that we have them in now, but for them to be out of that box and to be who they are, and learn and be successful. And to see that 10 years time, who knows, to be fluent speakers of Mi'kmaq here in this area, it's possible. Oh, I think they would just flourish, because a lot of them now are embracing that. So they want it. They want it, and they see that it works for them. When they see things that we do things the Mi'kmaq way, or culturally, or the way they learn, it's successful. And when you have a group of individuals who are getting that basic, it's basics, but yet it's it's constant. Because they may not be getting it at home. They may not be getting this cultural piece at home. Because a lot of them live in non-indigenous, partial non-indigenous families, right? So, and sometimes it's the the father that may be indigenous, it may or it may be the mother. And we know that a lot of times it's our mothers that are our teachers. And they embrace that. And maybe that's why they're connecting with me. I don't know, like an old mother hen. But it's connecting with them. And because it's for them to see that vision, for them to see them in places where they can succeed. That's what I tell them. You can be, you can be successful. You can reach that. And they always joke with me, we know what you're going to say, Sheila, I know you can do this. And so they kind of make fun of, they kind of make a little joke about now, because they know what I'm going to say to them. But they know it's true. It's just giving that positive reassurance that I believe in them. And they need more people to believe in them as well, like just speaking of in the in the school system, they need more people to believe in them. And, and at home, encouraging them to, to further their education, to reach, reach higher than what they see right there before them. They've got, I was just that's what I was just thinking they've got to, they've got to embrace. Number one, they've got to embrace who they are. And number two, they've got to go to where the knowledge is. And that knowledge is with her elders, with her older ones, and that are willing to share that with them. And I know that when we bring elders in, in the schools, I bring elders in the, in the afterschool group, I bring them in the youth group. And they connect. And that was one of the things that my youth group said, we want elder Peggy to commit, we want elder Rose to commit, we want they they're seeing that importance. So we need to get those children to see that it's important for them to have that connection. But to when they're there with them, to learn all that they can, to embrace, to really listen. Because that's how we did years ago. We sat, we listened, and we learned. And then there was, yes, we had times that we played. But there was a lot being said and being done. When the young man was out on their first hunt, or when the woman was teaching her daughter, or the grandmother was teaching them, whether it be life skills, or whatever it was, or the teaching of taking care of children, and all kinds of things that we, that we learned, it was important that they got that support from their, from their parent, or from that knowledge keeper, because we, we always did, we had extended families as well. It wasn't always the mother, since it was grandmother, auntie, it was, we all supported those children. And I think that's, that's what the children today need is that support.