 My name is Joy Neimanin and I'm the coordinator of the Native Nurses Entry Program at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay. And my background has always been a little bit of teaching but more so gerontology. So I've been for many years a gerontological nurse. But I taught study skills in the Native Nurses Entry Program for a number of years and so when the last coordinator, last manager left, I was recommended for the job by her. So yeah, so now I've been doing this for about five years. Yeah. My name is Dolores Walvier, Professor, Maratha of Lakehead University, having taught here for 39 years in the Faculty of Education Native Studies. And I've been involved with the community and with the university in the Native programs or Aboriginal programs, Indigenous programs, whatever they want to call it. And since I retired four years ago at age 70, I started here as a young woman and they nominated me as an elder. A few years ago you can't nominate yourself, you've got to be recognized by the community. I became an elder and so I get involved. And when Joy Neiman and I met, she asked me if I wanted to sit on her board of directors. And I said, sure, I'd like to get involved even though I've been in education but I'm also a teacher and a storyteller. And I'm involved with her students, like a grandmother to them. Our target audience is any male or female Indigenous person who's interested in pursuing a career and becoming a nurse and receiving their Bachelor of Science degree. So we, typically we have, it could be 18 year olds, it could be, maybe we have older moms that are in their 30s or 40s. There's no age restrictions but you do have to have the Indigenous heritage. The aim of the program is to produce or have more Indigenous nurses that are able to give better cultural centered care. And the program was set up through affiliations with certain Aboriginal bands and certain Aboriginal people. May Cat was really involved in the idea of the program. The program did originate in 1985. Currently I'm having my 33rd intake of students. The program has really grown with different ideas. We definitely want to have Indigenous story content in our program. So the English professor currently, you know, she's been studying Richard Wagame's books and using that. And we always try to have the Indigenous content and study skills during the long winter months. I do art therapy along with lessons, incorporate lessons. So the students really respond to not only lectures but hands-on kind of activities. And we really try and promote that and have that in our program. The program, like I said, this is my 33rd, this is the 33rd intake. So I would say we were successful because we've been around for so long. And as of today, there are 94 applicants to this program that have received their BSCN in nursing. And so I'm really excited and waiting for that 100th person. It's totally different from non-Indigenous. I've known that since I started teaching. There wasn't any native education or even the concept of it. But I knew that we learned differently and were motivated differently. And for instance, some students are happy with lectures sitting out there writing jotting notes down. But us, we learned by watching. If you want to learn how to be a nurse, you go watch a nurse follow her around and see what she does. And that's how you learn. And we learned by actually doing. As children, we're never told go away. This is for adults only. We're allowed to watch. If there's a baby being born, we can go in and watch it being born. We're not forbidden. So we learned by watching and we also learned by listening. There's a lot of oral history in our programs while in our culture. You learn by listening to stories, listening to elders. And so learning by watching and listening and doing, actually getting involved. But to sit back and listen to a lecture is not the way we learn. And we're not motivated that way. So all my years of teaching, I taught that way. And many students liked the way I teach. They said, I wish our math teacher was like this or our chemistry teacher. Many of those things were like that. It's too storytelling. They remember things. So that's what we do by hands on activity and talking to people. We're letting them watch if we're doing something. Well, I certainly want to see our program continue and carry on. I think there's still a strong need for the program. I know young indigenous students often don't have the background in the sciences from the high schools. Maybe their high schools don't offer the you or see courses that they need to get into programs. So I definitely, I see that there's still a need for the program and I really want it to continue for another 10, 20 years or as long as it takes until we're caught up and there's equal footing for education. I want to see it continue because I originally started with the native teacher education program from day one in 1975. And it amalgamated from a two year program with one year university into an honors bachelor of education, native education. So it grew. We don't have that two year program anymore, but it still exists. And we're training our teachers to meet the needs of native children and the community and the parents and getting them all involved. So it's still continue, but in a higher form. And with this program, I want to encourage young people to come and become a nurse. I wanted to be a nurse at one time, but I chose to go into teaching instead. I couldn't stand the sight of it. The one thing that students need to realize is that the native nurses entry program is when you take the program and you receive an overall average of 70%, you're guaranteed a seat in the bachelor of science and nursing degree program. And I think a lot of young students think they can't handle a university. And if you're thinking that way, I would say don't think that way because we provide a lot of supports to try and get you through the toughest courses chemistry. So again, it's science is the toughest course, but I provide tutors. They're built right into the timetables and a lot of students will take pre health first. And it's an entry level course as well, but it doesn't give you the guarantee of getting into the nursing program. So I'm really trying to suggest that people come and try this out. And you do have, students do have are able to, you know, if they don't make the chemistry one year, they can, they have can take up to three years to do this. And I know myself sometimes that you need to get used to the swing of things. So I've had quite a few students come back and completed like they don't complete the first year, but then the second year they come back, they do it and then they get into the nursing program. We have quite a few feasts and we do have, we always have usually food and the coffee is usually always on. And I think the value of the program is that they're a cohort of usually 15 or 16 students. Usually that's the kind of a typical number of students, students per year. And you get to know your fellow students and you know, that's good. It's really good. You've got more support with that too. I do monthly check-ins as well with students and I report back to Vans. Most of the students are band funded. So they give me permission and I report back to the Vans on their attendance and their marks. And the students like that. They like to have me talk to them once a month how they're doing and get a plan or you know, go over things and try and help them as much as I can. I want to add that I thought about becoming a nurse. I spent five years in the tubercular hospital as a child and nurses and doctors were the only people I knew in the five years I was there. I didn't even see my parents. And so I wanted to be a nurse and I chose things that would help me. I was one of the first candy strikers. We had a hundred of us in the sixties and I took part in that and got my uniform. I was happy to be in a hospital and try to help as much as I could but I decided to go into teaching after and that's where I stayed. But I find that our students are motivated differently like in terms when they start thinking about that career. Usually they got two or three children by then and their children motivate them to go back to school and to think about them. The schooling, especially when we become students, family is very important and so they continue on with that. And I find that the students here are all family like one big happy family enjoys our cook. She's always bringing food. Wonderful. And she's very caring. That's what I found out that I really meant about a year and a half ago. And I thought, well, she needs help and I'm going to come along and be a support for the students. So I often talk to them as an elder, as a grandmother from the community. I mean like them and gone through the whole system and worked and retired. So I like getting involved and we both do a lot. And I don't mind sharing like bringing my native manic. I make this molasses raisin manic to the students as a sort of a dessert. And I bring candy kisses now and then. I put things out for them. I just like being somebody with something in my pocket for the kids. I consider them my kids.