Chronicles the origins and achievements of the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation…
The Learning Path
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Part of AS LONG AS THE RIVERS FLOW series
Native control of education is explored in THE LEARNING PATH. Director Todd, a Metis, introduces Edmonton elders Ann Anderson, Eva Cardinal, and Olive Dickason, remarkable educators who are working with younger natives. They recount harrowing experiences at reservation schools, memories which fuelled their determination to preserve their language and identities. Using a unique blend of documentary footage, dramatic re-enactments, and archival film, Todd weaves together the life stories of three unsung heroines who are making education relevant in today's native communities.
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Citation
Main credits
Todd, Loretta (screenwriter)
Todd, Loretta (film director)
Green, Cari (film producer)
Other credits
Editing, Frank Irvine, Janice Browne; cinematography, Kirk Tougas; music, Annie Frazer.
Distributor subjects
Canadian Studies; Indigenous Peoples; Native People; Psychology; Women's StudiesKeywords
; "The Learning Path"; Icarus Films; Canada; Indigenous; Native American; psychology; women's studies; education;
WEBVTT
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[dramatic music]
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[person chanting]
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[dramatic music continues]
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[person singing in foreign language]
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[dramatic music continues]
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I felt a sense of shame about being Indian.
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Many people I know were punished
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for speaking their native language.
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We were made ignorant of our history and culture.
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The residential school system can take credit for that.
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I remember feeling that to be Indian
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was to be a part of the past.
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There was no future for us.
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[speaks Cree]
I\'m Tantoo Cardinal.
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Welcome to \"As Long as the Rivers Flow,\"
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a documentary series about my people\'s efforts
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to control our own destinies.
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It\'s with great pride that I present tonight\'s film,
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\"The Learning Path\" by Metis filmmaker Loretta Todd.
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It\'s about Native women
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who are changing the education system.
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Now, in schools like this run by Native people,
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we are regaining control over what our children learn.
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Our elders survived difficult experiences.
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Now they\'re leading the next generation
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along the learning path.
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[person chanting]
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[chanting continues]
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going to junior high and,
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you know, I can still think about it today.
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And we couldn\'t even walk down the hallway
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and we\'d be called squawberry jam.
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We\'d be called, \"You wagon burner.\"
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You know, this is just a hallway.
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We couldn\'t even walk through during recess.
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And we\'d be called a name every day of our life.
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in northern Alberta and there was out of,
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we\'ll say a hundred kids, there were maybe 10 Native kids.
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We always were called Indians, like a, or savages.
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I was about seven years old
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and I was bugging the older boys,
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and these were boys that were 17, 18 years old.
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I can remember three of the boys that grabbed me
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and they put a, what do you call,
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a skipping rope around my neck and they were gonna hang me.
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and in the classrooms of this country called Canada.
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Denied their own cultures,
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our children were taught not to be Indian,
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not to be Inuit, not to be Metis.
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There was a time when our people
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had their own education systems and their own knowledge.
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Today, we are taking back our education
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and our woman are again
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our guides along the learning path.
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We survived before they came, before that great visit.
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And we\'re still here.
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And I think we\'ll be here for a long time yet.
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Surely education has to go both ways in all ways,
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not just one way.
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with the Sacred Circle program
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in the Edmonton Public School system.
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She counsels First Nation students
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and shares her knowledge of Cree culture
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with children of many lands.
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She believes education can build bridges across cultures
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and make a better place for our children.
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There\'s no end to learning.
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[chalk scraping]
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Good morning, everybody.
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[speaks Cree]
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[children speaking Cree]
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[speaks Cree]
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[speaks Cree]
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[children speaking Cree]
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This lack of understanding about the Native people
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took over 100 years.
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It\'ll take us quite a time
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to go through.
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We are making paths.
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We are making paths.
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and a professor at the University of Alberta.
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She is setting the record straight,
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telling a story of First Nation\'s history
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before the arrival of Europeans
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and of our contribution to the shaping of history today.
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before we get into the lecture,
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just how delighted I am
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to be here at Ben Calf Robe School,
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which I\'ve heard so much about.
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And this is the first time that I\'ve ever had
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the opportunity to be here.
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And it\'s a real privilege. I can assure you.
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I would go through textbooks and look in,
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you know, any textbook too, you can still do that,
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and the kind of terms in which they referred
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to the Indians in those textbooks,
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well, it was just outrageous, absolutely outrageous.
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And the people were totally unaware that it was outrageous.
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That was the extraordinary thing about it.
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[keyboard keys clicking]
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I hope that I\'m extending the knowledges
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and knowledge about the contribution
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and the role that the Native people have played
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in the development of Canada.
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[keyboard keys clicking]
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So how do you go about establishing Canada
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as your native country and yourself as an Aborigines
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or with founding rights in it?
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If, you know, if you\'re a white European
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whose ancestors came over within the past few hundred years,
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well, you have a couple of routes that you can take here.
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You can sort of deny that the Aborigines who were here,
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that they had valid societies,
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that they were playing an active role in your society.
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You can deny them a role in the new order of things
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and say, you know, that that really didn\'t exist,
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and they could become, in effect, invisible.
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We\'re still coping with beliefs now that we\'re established,
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say in the 16th century,
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and we\'re still trying to get them dislodged.
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And you can dislodge them up to a certain point, you know.
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They kind of get hidden, but underneath they\'re still there.
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at her cultural center in Edmonton.
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She shares her knowledge as an elder of 86 years.
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She knows a culture cannot survive without its language.
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My knowledge comes from my mother.
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15 letters of the alphabet.
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We don\'t use 26 letters,
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like F and L, R, X.
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We don\'t have any Cree words with X or F.
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You know, like that. No. So we don\'t need them.
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So we only use 15 letters of the alphabet.
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That\'s what makes it so easy.
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I am still trying to teach language.
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Last year we had about 28 coming.
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And these were grownups, grownup people
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that never were taught their language
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and they wanted to learn it.
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It makes me feel so good when somebody says,
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\"Well, I want to learn my language. I never was taught.\"
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And I know why parents never taught their kids. I know.
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It\'s because they were laughed at, they were ridiculed.
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We are people.
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We are not just people from outer space somewhere.
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We\'ve been here all our lives.
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I always wanted respect and equality.
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And it was hard for me to accept that we never had it.
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But now we do. It\'s beginning to.
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[person chanting]
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Education is serving to empower
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and not oppress our children.
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Even in the city, we can control our education.
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In Edmonton, at Ben Calf Robe School,
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the Native community has created
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an all Native junior high school
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where it is safe to be Native.
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You\'re listening to SBCR, Station Ben Calf Robe.
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The next song I\'m gonna play
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is a rap song called \"Evil That Men Do\" by Queen Latifah.
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So here it is on SBCR.
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[lid pops]
[cassette rattles]
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[button cranks]
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[upbeat music]
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♪ Situations, reality, what a concept ♪
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♪ Nothing ever seems to stay in step ♪
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♪ So today, here is a message for my sisters and brothers ♪
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for the first six years of his life
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in a predominantly non-Native school
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and he\'s been teased and he\'s been,
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had a lot of negative experiences with the school system,
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to come here when they walk in the doors,
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like being Native is not an issue,
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\'cause everyone is and a lot of the staff are.
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♪ But there\'s still time left ♪
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♪ Stop putting your conscience on cease ♪
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♪ And bring about some type of peace ♪
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♪ Not only in your heart, but also in your mind ♪
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♪ It will benefit all mankind ♪
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with the burning of sweet grass
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to cleanse and prepare the students and teachers
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for a day of learning.
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whose voice I hear in the wind,
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I am small and weak. I need your strengthen and your wisdom.
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Make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.
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Make my hands respect the things you have made
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and my ears sharp to your voice.
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Make me wise that I may know the things
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you have taught your children,
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the lessons you have written in every leaf and rock.
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Make me strong, not to be superior to my brothers,
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but to fight my greatest enemy, myself.
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Make me ever ready to come to you with straight eyes
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so that when life fades as a fading sunset,
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my spirit may come to you without shame.
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[students and teacher speaking Cree]
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what we\'d like them to leave with
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is a really strong sense of themselves as Native people,
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but also with excellent academic training
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that they can continue on into high school.
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So I guess like a balance and a strength in
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both of the worlds that they have to live in,
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you know, as bilingual, bicultural people.
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He likes skiing, don\'t you?
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Ben Calf Robe does not make miracles, but it is working.
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But even here, the legacy of government policies
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aimed at banishing our cultures lives on.
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Parents are still in pain from their school experiences.
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There is much healing needed.
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The federal government practiced an active policy
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of assimilation through the residential schools,
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removing children from their homes,
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often for their entire childhoods.
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The church enforced the government\'s policies,
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operating residential and convent schools.
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Even when this policy ended in the 1960s,
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the school system continued as an agent of assimilation.
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[child singing]
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In St. Albert, it was hard to be a Native person. Yeah.
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People laughed and said things.
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My mother was one that didn\'t care.
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She\'d say, \"Let them laugh.
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When they get tired laughing, they\'ll stop.\"
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You know?
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While I felt like I could go there and whack them, you know,
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because I was defending my mother.
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If anybody laughed about Indian people,
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I thought they were laughing at my mother,
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but not really, you know?
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But that\'s the way I felt, so.
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But I think it\'s beginning to leave a bit.
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Not as bad as it was.
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It still exists, but not as bad anyway.
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I seen a lot at the convent that I didn\'t like. Yeah.
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And oftentimes I sort of spoke to the nuns and say,
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\"My mother didn\'t teach me that.\"
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My mother said politeness was the best thing,
259
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to respect people and speak your whatever language
260
00:15:19.380 --> 00:15:20.640
the creator has given you.
261
00:15:20.640 --> 00:15:24.900
But they said it was only the devil that spoke Cree.
262
00:15:24.900 --> 00:15:28.323
So it was a frightening thing for us, you know?
263
00:15:28.323 --> 00:15:31.573
[person speaking Cree]
264
00:15:33.850 --> 00:15:36.267
[calm music]
265
00:15:38.028 --> 00:15:41.278
[person speaking Cree]
266
00:15:45.155 --> 00:15:48.405
[calm music continues]
267
00:15:50.700 --> 00:15:53.950
[person speaking Cree]
268
00:15:57.089 --> 00:16:00.256
[car engine rumbling]
269
00:16:02.030 --> 00:16:06.113
[person continues speaking Cree]
270
00:16:14.292 --> 00:16:16.284
271
00:16:16.284 --> 00:16:21.284
[calm music]
[engine rumbling]
272
00:16:28.704 --> 00:16:31.954
[person speaking Cree]
273
00:16:55.250 --> 00:16:58.500
[calm music continues]
274
00:17:07.740 --> 00:17:11.620
275
00:17:12.660 --> 00:17:13.980
with my father.
276
00:17:13.980 --> 00:17:18.580
I was hanging onto his hand and walking up the stairway
277
00:17:19.650 --> 00:17:22.503
and coming to this brick building and wondering,
278
00:17:23.617 --> 00:17:25.827
\"Am I in the right place?\"
279
00:17:27.840 --> 00:17:29.940
And I was taken down the hallway
280
00:17:29.940 --> 00:17:32.823
wondering what was going to happen to me.
281
00:17:34.050 --> 00:17:38.913
And this nun was calling out the names of the children.
282
00:17:39.899 --> 00:17:42.300
And I didn\'t understand what was going on.
283
00:17:42.300 --> 00:17:47.163
And she, apparently she was calling names,
284
00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:49.710
calling out the children\'s names.
285
00:17:49.710 --> 00:17:51.660
And what we were supposed to do
286
00:17:51.660 --> 00:17:54.600
was raise our hands when she called us.
287
00:17:54.600 --> 00:17:55.470
Then all of a sudden,
288
00:17:55.470 --> 00:17:58.143
one relative pushed me on the shoulder when,
289
00:17:59.666 --> 00:18:03.720
and she said, \"Raise your hand,\" in Cree.
290
00:18:03.720 --> 00:18:07.800
And I didn\'t know what to do.
291
00:18:07.800 --> 00:18:12.070
I tried to raise my hand and
292
00:18:14.820 --> 00:18:16.780
I smiled at the nun
293
00:18:18.570 --> 00:18:21.450
and I told the girl [speaks Cree],
294
00:18:21.450 --> 00:18:22.953
which means why.
295
00:18:24.658 --> 00:18:29.280
And this nun looked at me and said something,
296
00:18:29.280 --> 00:18:33.873
which I don\'t, even if I didn\'t understand,
297
00:18:35.040 --> 00:18:38.500
I felt the body language
298
00:18:40.380 --> 00:18:43.563
discouraging me as if to tell me,
299
00:18:44.587 --> 00:18:47.610
\"You don\'t speak your language.\"
300
00:18:47.610 --> 00:18:48.690
It was a command.
301
00:18:48.690 --> 00:18:52.923
Her face I could read was,
302
00:18:54.187 --> 00:18:59.007
\"Do as I say. If not, then you will serve penalty.\"
303
00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:01.820
And...
304
00:19:06.660 --> 00:19:11.103
I don\'t like to dwell on those times too much,
305
00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:15.400
because there were other productive things that happened
306
00:19:17.340 --> 00:19:18.970
in my learning path
307
00:19:21.630 --> 00:19:22.773
in this school.
308
00:19:26.865 --> 00:19:29.167
We\'d be following in a lineup,
309
00:19:30.750 --> 00:19:34.470
the bigger girls in front
310
00:19:34.470 --> 00:19:36.993
and the smaller girls in the back,
311
00:19:40.537 --> 00:19:45.537
at nights when we\'d be going to our dormitory.
312
00:19:50.130 --> 00:19:50.963
Oh, my.
313
00:19:55.230 --> 00:20:00.230
There\'s an area that always intrigued me here,
314
00:20:01.260 --> 00:20:06.210
because over on the other side,
315
00:20:06.210 --> 00:20:07.360
I used to hear
316
00:20:10.076 --> 00:20:11.950
a kind of talking.
317
00:20:14.910 --> 00:20:17.580
Wanted to see what this room was all about
318
00:20:17.580 --> 00:20:19.920
and later on as I grew up,
319
00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:22.180
I used to come and dust
320
00:20:24.330 --> 00:20:28.023
the window sills here and the windows.
321
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:35.000
My people were still traveling by horse-drawn wagon.
322
00:20:35.340 --> 00:20:37.620
When it came Friday or Saturday,
323
00:20:37.620 --> 00:20:41.230
I hope I\'d see some
324
00:20:42.270 --> 00:20:43.840
wagon and horses
325
00:20:45.210 --> 00:20:48.033
going by at the highway way over there.
326
00:20:57.660 --> 00:21:02.253
Kinda makes me feel lonely, sad.
327
00:21:06.407 --> 00:21:07.807
And I...
328
00:21:09.690 --> 00:21:12.063
I wanted to learn so much.
329
00:21:44.238 --> 00:21:46.945
[water trickling]
330
00:21:46.945 --> 00:21:49.695
[child coughing]
331
00:22:02.156 --> 00:22:05.430
[water trickling]
332
00:22:05.430 --> 00:22:09.660
333
00:22:09.660 --> 00:22:11.460
and we used to play together a lot.
334
00:22:11.460 --> 00:22:13.590
She kept saying, \"I\'m sick today, I\'m sick today.\"
335
00:22:13.590 --> 00:22:16.470
And I didn\'t really know what she was hinting at.
336
00:22:16.470 --> 00:22:21.470
And it was, she had her menstruation for the first time
337
00:22:21.630 --> 00:22:23.930
and she didn\'t know what was happening to her.
338
00:22:25.388 --> 00:22:29.037
And she told me, she said, \"Well, I\'m bleeding.\"
339
00:22:31.042 --> 00:22:32.640
And it kinda struck me then.
340
00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:35.850
And I said, \"Let\'s go and see the sisters.\"
341
00:22:35.850 --> 00:22:39.300
So I took her by the hand and I went to the sisters
342
00:22:39.300 --> 00:22:42.150
and I said, \"This little girl needs some help,\" you know?
343
00:22:43.860 --> 00:22:47.190
And she says she\'s bleeding.
344
00:22:47.190 --> 00:22:50.527
And the sister just sent her away.
345
00:22:50.527 --> 00:22:53.130
\"Take her away from here. Shame, shame.\"
346
00:22:53.130 --> 00:22:56.340
Why were they shaming her? You know, why?
347
00:22:56.340 --> 00:23:00.210
And I said, \"Well, her clothes are all messed up.
348
00:23:00.210 --> 00:23:01.980
We should change her or something like this,\"
349
00:23:01.980 --> 00:23:03.750
\'cause I wanted to help her.
350
00:23:03.750 --> 00:23:07.110
And they said to bring her into a place
351
00:23:07.110 --> 00:23:09.630
where we all went to play, a huge big place.
352
00:23:09.630 --> 00:23:11.850
And all the nuns came and gathered around her
353
00:23:11.850 --> 00:23:12.810
and they made her stand
354
00:23:12.810 --> 00:23:15.090
and they threw this little wet panty
355
00:23:15.090 --> 00:23:17.070
all full of blood over her head
356
00:23:17.070 --> 00:23:18.780
and she couldn\'t see anything.
357
00:23:18.780 --> 00:23:19.957
And they were poking at her.
358
00:23:19.957 --> 00:23:22.440
\"Shame on you, shame on you.\"
359
00:23:22.440 --> 00:23:25.620
I don\'t know. I just wanted to cry finally.
360
00:23:25.620 --> 00:23:27.570
This little girl was half falling over, you know,
361
00:23:27.570 --> 00:23:29.820
because she couldn\'t see anything.
362
00:23:29.820 --> 00:23:33.117
I just thought, \"Oh, what kinda wicked people are these?\"
363
00:23:36.360 --> 00:23:37.620
When nighttime came,
364
00:23:37.620 --> 00:23:40.050
we all had our own little cots to sleep in.
365
00:23:40.050 --> 00:23:43.050
We were all small children, you know, 10-year-old.
366
00:23:43.050 --> 00:23:45.630
We didn\'t need large cots and we all these cots,
367
00:23:45.630 --> 00:23:47.640
maybe a hundred of them all together.
368
00:23:47.640 --> 00:23:50.190
And once the lamps were put out,
369
00:23:50.190 --> 00:23:52.410
well, it was pitch black in there.
370
00:23:52.410 --> 00:23:56.827
I\'d hear girls kinda screaming and crying, you know,
371
00:23:56.827 --> 00:24:00.420
\"Leave me alone. Ow, ow, you\'re hurting me. Leave me alone.\"
372
00:24:00.420 --> 00:24:03.300
And I\'d sit up quickly because I was sorta confused.
373
00:24:03.300 --> 00:24:04.807
And finally, I\'d hear somebody saying,
374
00:24:04.807 --> 00:24:08.100
\"Oh, go back to sleep. She\'s having a nightmare.\"
375
00:24:08.100 --> 00:24:11.700
It was a man\'s voice that I heard. I know. I could tell.
376
00:24:11.700 --> 00:24:14.883
I used to cry, you know? Yeah. I cry with them.
377
00:24:16.860 --> 00:24:19.087
378
00:24:19.087 --> 00:24:22.260
379
00:24:22.260 --> 00:24:23.850
380
00:24:23.850 --> 00:24:27.840
I felt, \"Gee, priests, I respected them so highly,\"
381
00:24:27.840 --> 00:24:31.920
and I thought, no more will I respect them.
382
00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:33.570
No more. And I don\'t.
383
00:24:33.570 --> 00:24:36.060
That thing enters my mind right away, you know,
384
00:24:36.060 --> 00:24:39.423
that they too have sinned doing something like that.
385
00:24:40.950 --> 00:24:44.733
Oh. So it\'s a bitter world.
386
00:24:46.350 --> 00:24:48.926
387
00:24:48.926 --> 00:24:51.926
388
00:24:51.926 --> 00:24:56.109
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
389
00:24:56.109 --> 00:24:59.820
390
00:24:59.820 --> 00:25:04.500
391
00:25:06.150 --> 00:25:10.530
The scars are still there.
392
00:25:10.530 --> 00:25:15.353
However, I have worked on myself
393
00:25:16.260 --> 00:25:21.240
and I have been able to let go.
394
00:25:21.240 --> 00:25:24.820
A lot of those
395
00:25:25.890 --> 00:25:29.550
painful experiences, a lot of those experiences
396
00:25:29.550 --> 00:25:33.753
were really very painful and very confusing.
397
00:25:38.940 --> 00:25:42.423
And yet on the on the other hand, I must say,
398
00:25:43.380 --> 00:25:44.883
when I look back,
399
00:25:45.750 --> 00:25:46.810
I think of what
400
00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:51.303
my grandmother said one time.
401
00:25:52.680 --> 00:25:57.180
I didn\'t wanna go back to school one after summer holidays.
402
00:25:57.180 --> 00:26:01.920
And I remember she said, \"You must remember,
403
00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:05.410
you must remember that
404
00:26:06.450 --> 00:26:09.370
the creator has given us
405
00:26:10.830 --> 00:26:12.423
many guidances.
406
00:26:14.040 --> 00:26:17.577
And one of those guidances is pain.\"
407
00:26:20.190 --> 00:26:24.633
Pain can be a teacher.
408
00:26:25.500 --> 00:26:27.783
And when a person has pain,
409
00:26:29.610 --> 00:26:33.993
it registers in a person\'s mind.
410
00:26:34.980 --> 00:26:37.743
It tells something, tells you something,
411
00:26:38.940 --> 00:26:43.383
that kind of thing will not happen again.
412
00:26:45.065 --> 00:26:48.993
And when I think about that and where I\'m at today,
413
00:26:51.210 --> 00:26:55.653
I can stand here, I can stand from this distance,
414
00:26:57.660 --> 00:27:00.663
and from the heart say,
415
00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:05.703
I wish things could have been different.
416
00:27:07.560 --> 00:27:11.740
I wish I could have been able
417
00:27:12.750 --> 00:27:15.930
to give more of my hearing,
418
00:27:15.930 --> 00:27:19.533
more of my willingness when I was a child.
419
00:27:21.480 --> 00:27:26.283
However, I am where I\'m at now and have learned a lot.
420
00:27:27.480 --> 00:27:30.100
Therefore, I can bid
421
00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:36.033
those hard times farewell.
422
00:27:39.270 --> 00:27:41.037
They have been guidances.
423
00:27:46.134 --> 00:27:49.967
[person singing indistinctly]
424
00:27:59.370 --> 00:28:00.540
425
00:28:00.540 --> 00:28:02.760
can still attend church?
426
00:28:02.760 --> 00:28:04.650
After all they have been through,
427
00:28:04.650 --> 00:28:06.273
how can they still participate?
428
00:28:07.650 --> 00:28:09.030
The compassion of our elders
429
00:28:09.030 --> 00:28:11.168
surprises many of our young people.
430
00:28:11.168 --> 00:28:14.751
[person continues singing]
431
00:28:25.620 --> 00:28:28.110
432
00:28:28.110 --> 00:28:31.473
for allowing the abuse of our children by sick individuals.
433
00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:35.250
It must take responsibility for its efforts
434
00:28:35.250 --> 00:28:37.200
to eliminate our cultures,
435
00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:39.780
to undermine our families and beliefs,
436
00:28:39.780 --> 00:28:42.963
our ways of life and the speaking of our languages.
437
00:28:44.430 --> 00:28:47.520
In the name of the government and in the name of their God,
438
00:28:47.520 --> 00:28:52.260
they practice cultural genocide, a war against our nations.
439
00:28:52.260 --> 00:28:54.303
Not with guns, but with prayers.
440
00:28:56.935 --> 00:29:01.458
♪ To follow Jesus ♪
441
00:29:01.458 --> 00:29:06.023
♪ I have decided ♪
442
00:29:06.023 --> 00:29:11.007
♪ To follow Jesus ♪
443
00:29:11.007 --> 00:29:15.554
♪ I have decided ♪
444
00:29:15.554 --> 00:29:19.985
♪ To follow Jesus ♪
445
00:29:19.985 --> 00:29:24.000
♪ No turning back ♪
446
00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:26.833
♪ No turning back ♪
447
00:29:29.880 --> 00:29:33.033
448
00:29:33.960 --> 00:29:37.426
They were part of the colonizing process
449
00:29:37.426 --> 00:29:40.350
and this colonizing process in the beginning, of course,
450
00:29:40.350 --> 00:29:44.580
called for the transformation of your Native people
451
00:29:44.580 --> 00:29:46.410
into something other than what they were
452
00:29:46.410 --> 00:29:47.940
when the Europeans found them,
453
00:29:47.940 --> 00:29:49.530
transform them into Christians
454
00:29:49.530 --> 00:29:53.340
and to make them into Christians
455
00:29:53.340 --> 00:29:57.660
and to make them citizens of this new order of things
456
00:29:57.660 --> 00:29:59.190
in the European sense,
457
00:29:59.190 --> 00:30:01.815
which of course meant the destruction
458
00:30:01.815 --> 00:30:04.143
of your traditional societies that were here.
459
00:30:05.340 --> 00:30:09.180
But this was an active policy and remained an active policy
460
00:30:09.180 --> 00:30:11.940
of your whole missionary drive
461
00:30:11.940 --> 00:30:14.820
right up until well into this century.
462
00:30:14.820 --> 00:30:16.443
Now you\'ve got a change.
463
00:30:17.580 --> 00:30:19.470
Since about the mid 20th century,
464
00:30:19.470 --> 00:30:23.366
there has been a gradual change and now it\'s gaining force.
465
00:30:23.366 --> 00:30:28.366
[person chanting]
[drums banging]
466
00:30:39.886 --> 00:30:44.886
[person continues chanting]
[drums banging]
467
00:30:57.238 --> 00:31:00.420
468
00:31:00.420 --> 00:31:02.913
Our people have shown a willingness to forgive.
469
00:31:03.930 --> 00:31:07.540
Is it not time for the church to do more than apologize?
470
00:31:07.540 --> 00:31:12.540
[person continues chanting]
[drums banging]
471
00:31:15.681 --> 00:31:17.730
Is it not time for Canadian society
472
00:31:17.730 --> 00:31:20.220
to view us not as dying cultures,
473
00:31:20.220 --> 00:31:23.820
but as dynamic cultures adapting the new,
474
00:31:23.820 --> 00:31:26.428
but maintaining our values and traditions.
475
00:31:26.428 --> 00:31:31.428
[person continues chanting]
[drums banging]
476
00:31:49.633 --> 00:31:52.466
[people clapping]
477
00:31:54.240 --> 00:31:57.543
Despite policies of assimilation, we have survived.
478
00:31:58.740 --> 00:32:01.590
Many tried to silence the knowledge of our elders.
479
00:32:01.590 --> 00:32:03.720
They would not be silenced.
480
00:32:03.720 --> 00:32:06.480
481
00:32:06.480 --> 00:32:10.080
She helped everybody, and especially elders.
482
00:32:10.080 --> 00:32:11.880
She\'d never miss the elders.
483
00:32:11.880 --> 00:32:16.500
She always brought them home and fed them and give them,
484
00:32:16.500 --> 00:32:19.950
even giving them a little bit of an herbal remedy.
485
00:32:19.950 --> 00:32:22.590
If she knew that they needed a certain remedy
486
00:32:22.590 --> 00:32:24.930
for a certain illness,
487
00:32:24.930 --> 00:32:27.360
you know, they\'d go to their medicine bag and open it up
488
00:32:27.360 --> 00:32:32.310
and give them, even it was just a tiny root, that was great.
489
00:32:32.310 --> 00:32:35.040
And the giving was what helped so much, you know.
490
00:32:35.040 --> 00:32:38.310
I know if I give somebody something, I just feel so great.
491
00:32:38.310 --> 00:32:40.833
Gives me great inner feeling, you know, so.
492
00:32:41.910 --> 00:32:44.550
And I was very much like my mom.
493
00:32:44.550 --> 00:32:48.153
The way she raised me was the way she was raised, she said.
494
00:32:49.311 --> 00:32:54.311
And I know I had inherited a lot from her. Yeah.
495
00:32:54.800 --> 00:32:59.800
[lighthearted music]
[person speaking Cree]
496
00:33:02.340 --> 00:33:04.020
497
00:33:04.020 --> 00:33:06.300
first of all, she taught us how to sew, you know.
498
00:33:06.300 --> 00:33:07.953
Very neat stitches too.
499
00:33:09.750 --> 00:33:12.600
So we made all sorts of things. Yeah.
500
00:33:12.600 --> 00:33:15.990
And mother, in the meantime too,
501
00:33:15.990 --> 00:33:17.910
would make moccasins and gloves.
502
00:33:17.910 --> 00:33:21.583
You know, she\'d sew them.
[person chanting]
503
00:33:36.480 --> 00:33:39.730
[person speaking Cree]
504
00:33:41.250 --> 00:33:42.870
505
00:33:42.870 --> 00:33:45.570
and she believed in all the spiritual ways of thinking
506
00:33:45.570 --> 00:33:46.770
of the Indian people.
507
00:33:46.770 --> 00:33:51.117
And she would say, \"Mother Earth is such a generous mother.\"
508
00:33:55.920 --> 00:33:59.913
509
00:34:01.020 --> 00:34:04.290
I had the mixed feelings.
510
00:34:04.290 --> 00:34:07.290
I remember the happy times.
511
00:34:07.290 --> 00:34:11.040
I remember the times
512
00:34:11.040 --> 00:34:14.590
where I wanted to know things
513
00:34:15.810 --> 00:34:18.903
and wanted to see changes.
514
00:34:20.040 --> 00:34:25.040
And some memory visits again
515
00:34:25.110 --> 00:34:26.523
in my home reserve,
516
00:34:27.510 --> 00:34:31.740
especially visiting with my sister
517
00:34:31.740 --> 00:34:34.920
and her daughter Mary.
518
00:34:34.920 --> 00:34:38.570
I remember my sister\'s...
519
00:34:40.890 --> 00:34:41.793
That woman,
520
00:34:43.950 --> 00:34:48.950
she is the person I admire so much.
521
00:34:49.710 --> 00:34:54.710
I wish I could have some of the things that she has,
522
00:34:54.750 --> 00:34:56.493
her quietness,
523
00:34:57.600 --> 00:35:00.633
she always finds something pleasant.
524
00:35:02.160 --> 00:35:05.793
Being around her is pleasant.
525
00:35:07.470 --> 00:35:12.150
She has real values
526
00:35:12.150 --> 00:35:15.423
that I have always respected.
527
00:35:16.800 --> 00:35:21.453
They\'re really basic for, you know, for us,
528
00:35:22.560 --> 00:35:25.113
her discipline, self discipline.
529
00:35:26.040 --> 00:35:30.633
She has taught me a lot about patience and kindness.
530
00:35:35.040 --> 00:35:37.200
Remember when we lived there.
531
00:35:37.200 --> 00:35:39.960
It\'s really okay to be your little sister.
532
00:35:39.960 --> 00:35:41.673
I felt good about that.
533
00:35:42.950 --> 00:35:45.243
I asked her to braid my hair.
534
00:35:47.460 --> 00:35:50.823
Although the time was very short,
535
00:35:51.990 --> 00:35:53.290
I could remember
536
00:35:55.800 --> 00:35:56.943
my childhood,
537
00:35:59.160 --> 00:36:00.483
do my braids.
538
00:36:02.010 --> 00:36:03.423
That really felt good.
539
00:36:05.021 --> 00:36:07.593
[laughs]
Garter snakes.
540
00:36:08.760 --> 00:36:11.193
I used to be so scared of snakes.
541
00:36:13.575 --> 00:36:16.420
There was one close to where I was walking
542
00:36:17.393 --> 00:36:19.760
and you didn\'t say anything.
543
00:36:19.760 --> 00:36:22.427
[tea trickling]
544
00:36:24.641 --> 00:36:26.310
545
00:36:26.310 --> 00:36:30.690
of the times when I was up in the north as a child
546
00:36:30.690 --> 00:36:32.310
and we\'d go off on the trail in the winter,
547
00:36:32.310 --> 00:36:34.440
particularly when you\'re on the trap line,
548
00:36:34.440 --> 00:36:37.500
and you\'d be out for, you know, for all day.
549
00:36:37.500 --> 00:36:39.450
We never out more than one day usually.
550
00:36:41.550 --> 00:36:42.600
Going on the trap line,
551
00:36:42.600 --> 00:36:44.730
and then you\'d stop every now and then
552
00:36:44.730 --> 00:36:47.370
to brew yourself a cup of tea.
553
00:36:47.370 --> 00:36:50.700
And that tea would always taste so good.
554
00:36:50.700 --> 00:36:52.680
It was just the best tea in the world.
555
00:36:52.680 --> 00:36:54.660
Even if it had been boiled, it didn\'t matter.
556
00:36:54.660 --> 00:36:57.510
It was just so refreshing.
557
00:36:57.510 --> 00:37:00.960
It was the small joys of life,
558
00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:02.610
but very, very beautiful moments
559
00:37:02.610 --> 00:37:06.010
and still, I think probably my most treasured memories.
560
00:37:06.010 --> 00:37:08.760
[fire crackling]
561
00:37:10.275 --> 00:37:12.858
[dogs barking]
562
00:37:24.420 --> 00:37:27.600
My mother, of course, yes, she was a very important person
563
00:37:27.600 --> 00:37:29.970
in my life for a number of reasons.
564
00:37:29.970 --> 00:37:31.590
I can remember going with her
565
00:37:31.590 --> 00:37:33.840
and she would look at plants and would identify plants
566
00:37:33.840 --> 00:37:36.460
and tell you something of the qualities
567
00:37:36.460 --> 00:37:37.830
of the various plants.
568
00:37:37.830 --> 00:37:42.570
We were able to get an appreciation of the life around us,
569
00:37:42.570 --> 00:37:44.130
of the natural world,
570
00:37:44.130 --> 00:37:47.410
and to realize that even if you did
571
00:37:48.930 --> 00:37:50.400
make it in society,
572
00:37:50.400 --> 00:37:52.710
in civilization down in the city,
573
00:37:52.710 --> 00:37:55.470
there was still this other world which was very beautiful
574
00:37:55.470 --> 00:37:58.830
and which had a whole way of looking at things
575
00:37:58.830 --> 00:38:01.260
and doing things that was of its own.
576
00:38:01.260 --> 00:38:03.303
And that was very valid.
577
00:38:09.330 --> 00:38:12.420
578
00:38:12.420 --> 00:38:14.940
So I just put this tiny little ad on the paper,
579
00:38:14.940 --> 00:38:19.320
on the journal, and I told them that I wanted it
580
00:38:19.320 --> 00:38:24.030
so that I, to border this little ad,
581
00:38:24.030 --> 00:38:26.370
it was just about an inch square,
582
00:38:26.370 --> 00:38:29.250
to border it with heavy black ink
583
00:38:29.250 --> 00:38:31.920
so that it would be noticeable.
584
00:38:31.920 --> 00:38:35.730
And all I put on there was \"Will tutor Cree.\"
585
00:38:35.730 --> 00:38:39.390
And I thought, \"Well, I might have 8 or 10,
586
00:38:39.390 --> 00:38:42.300
and then I can start my Cree classes.\"
587
00:38:42.300 --> 00:38:47.300
But when the ad was answered, I had 50.
588
00:38:48.090 --> 00:38:50.580
And I can truthfully say that to this day,
589
00:38:50.580 --> 00:38:52.920
it never stopped once, you know?
590
00:38:52.920 --> 00:38:57.903
Every year we start in September and we go to December.
591
00:39:00.420 --> 00:39:03.900
That\'s all the pictures that where I was teaching.
592
00:39:03.900 --> 00:39:06.600
And it was in 1968.
593
00:39:06.600 --> 00:39:10.563
That\'s when I really got into the art of teaching.
594
00:39:11.776 --> 00:39:14.443
[speaking Cree]
595
00:39:20.467 --> 00:39:21.757
Like mother would say,
596
00:39:21.757 --> 00:39:26.040
\"I\'m teaching you what my grandmother taught me to do.\"
597
00:39:26.040 --> 00:39:27.150
You know?
598
00:39:27.150 --> 00:39:30.000
And she said, \"Because that\'s the only thing I know how.\"
599
00:39:31.950 --> 00:39:34.380
But made a lot of sense when you think of it now.
600
00:39:34.380 --> 00:39:38.910
She was determined that I write it, her language. Yeah.
601
00:39:38.910 --> 00:39:41.550
Especially when she got old and wasn\'t,
602
00:39:41.550 --> 00:39:44.460
we knew that she wouldn\'t last too long.
603
00:39:44.460 --> 00:39:46.530
I kept her the last eight years of her life
604
00:39:46.530 --> 00:39:49.950
and she used to talk about these things.
605
00:39:49.950 --> 00:39:52.477
And the last thing she said was,
606
00:39:52.477 --> 00:39:56.100
\"You write my language because if you don\'t, it\'ll die,
607
00:39:56.100 --> 00:39:58.500
and then you won\'t have a language.\"
608
00:39:58.500 --> 00:40:00.120
You know?
609
00:40:00.120 --> 00:40:03.963
And I had visions of her coming to see me.
610
00:40:07.740 --> 00:40:12.060
And I find that this was true, you know, that she,
611
00:40:12.060 --> 00:40:13.717
and when I would ask and say,
612
00:40:13.717 --> 00:40:15.630
\"What did you come for, Mother?\"
613
00:40:15.630 --> 00:40:18.537
And she\'d say, \"Well, to see about the language.\"
614
00:40:19.410 --> 00:40:21.907
And my husband would say,
615
00:40:21.907 --> 00:40:25.380
\"Well, we\'d better get busy and write it,\" you know?
616
00:40:25.380 --> 00:40:28.440
And after that, well, we never saw visions of her at all.
617
00:40:28.440 --> 00:40:29.273
Yeah.
618
00:40:33.960 --> 00:40:36.120
This is what keeps me going
619
00:40:36.120 --> 00:40:38.460
because I know that if it wasn\'t
620
00:40:38.460 --> 00:40:41.490
for my Nativeness,
621
00:40:41.490 --> 00:40:42.930
I wouldn\'t be here today.
622
00:40:42.930 --> 00:40:47.820
I wouldn\'t have my 92 copyrights of writings and things.
623
00:40:47.820 --> 00:40:50.583
And if you maintain your own language,
624
00:40:51.450 --> 00:40:54.570
it gives you strength, it gives you vitality,
625
00:40:54.570 --> 00:40:57.150
it gives you a wonderful feeling,
626
00:40:57.150 --> 00:40:59.553
something that\'s given by the great spirit.
627
00:41:00.990 --> 00:41:05.640
The first word that we\'re going to use is the word book,
628
00:41:05.640 --> 00:41:08.460
which is a book like this here.
629
00:41:08.460 --> 00:41:10.060
And the word is [speaking Cree].
630
00:41:11.100 --> 00:41:15.240
And you all repeat.
[all speaking Cree]
631
00:41:15.240 --> 00:41:17.280
632
00:41:17.280 --> 00:41:20.905
you can hear those syllables.
633
00:41:20.905 --> 00:41:23.572
[speaking Cree]
634
00:41:25.320 --> 00:41:28.953
All together.
[all speaking Cree]
635
00:41:31.091 --> 00:41:32.843
636
00:41:32.843 --> 00:41:35.510
[speaking Cree]
637
00:41:42.840 --> 00:41:46.680
638
00:41:46.680 --> 00:41:49.080
You can\'t split those two. You can\'t pull those two apart.
639
00:41:49.080 --> 00:41:50.820
You have to work together.
640
00:41:50.820 --> 00:41:54.210
Because if you lose it,
641
00:41:54.210 --> 00:41:58.263
then you\'re not a whole person.
642
00:41:59.591 --> 00:42:01.481
What\'s [speaking Cree]?
643
00:42:01.481 --> 00:42:03.321
644
00:42:03.321 --> 00:42:07.602
[speaking Cree]
Okay. Again.
645
00:42:07.602 --> 00:42:12.602
[Anne speaking Cree]
[students speaking Cree]
646
00:42:15.631 --> 00:42:19.815
[Anne speaking Cree]
[students speaking Cree]
647
00:42:19.815 --> 00:42:22.482
[speaking Cree]
648
00:42:35.699 --> 00:42:38.610
649
00:42:38.610 --> 00:42:40.950
And are you enjoying your Cree language?
650
00:42:40.950 --> 00:42:41.940
651
00:42:41.940 --> 00:42:43.650
652
00:42:43.650 --> 00:42:45.150
when you learn a Cree language?
653
00:42:45.150 --> 00:42:46.470
Are you going to teach it
654
00:42:46.470 --> 00:42:48.920
or are you going to be a teacher or what?
655
00:42:48.920 --> 00:42:52.230
June?
656
00:42:52.230 --> 00:42:53.880
657
00:42:53.880 --> 00:42:57.660
658
00:42:57.660 --> 00:42:59.207
659
00:42:59.207 --> 00:43:04.080
660
00:43:04.080 --> 00:43:06.243
and maybe one day be a teacher.
661
00:43:10.950 --> 00:43:13.830
662
00:43:13.830 --> 00:43:15.450
is a very solitary occupation.
663
00:43:15.450 --> 00:43:17.370
So is writing, researching and writing.
664
00:43:17.370 --> 00:43:21.150
And so, yes, you are fundamentally on your own
665
00:43:21.150 --> 00:43:22.590
and you have to spend hours,
666
00:43:22.590 --> 00:43:25.290
and especially when you\'re in a different world
667
00:43:25.290 --> 00:43:26.850
exploring new areas,
668
00:43:26.850 --> 00:43:28.530
you have to spend hours and hours
669
00:43:28.530 --> 00:43:31.860
and sometimes days to come up with very little,
670
00:43:31.860 --> 00:43:33.660
if you come up with anything at all.
671
00:43:56.910 --> 00:43:59.457
Another common theme of course is that of the circle
672
00:43:59.457 --> 00:44:02.370
and of the circle of life.
673
00:44:02.370 --> 00:44:06.810
And the theme of the circle appears in many forms.
674
00:44:06.810 --> 00:44:07.950
Can represent the sun
675
00:44:07.950 --> 00:44:10.620
and the sun can be extremely important
676
00:44:10.620 --> 00:44:12.000
in the circle of life,
677
00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:15.300
or can represent, you know, the beginning of life.
678
00:44:15.300 --> 00:44:17.070
And you go through your pattern of life
679
00:44:17.070 --> 00:44:18.780
and you come to the end,
680
00:44:18.780 --> 00:44:20.940
and then you return to the earth.
681
00:44:20.940 --> 00:44:24.027
And then from the earth is reborn a new form of life
682
00:44:24.027 --> 00:44:26.070
and the circle of life continues.
683
00:44:26.070 --> 00:44:28.290
684
00:44:28.290 --> 00:44:29.430
685
00:44:29.430 --> 00:44:31.710
As far back as we\'ve been able to find,
686
00:44:31.710 --> 00:44:35.790
human habitation in the Americas, people were trading.
687
00:44:35.790 --> 00:44:37.210
Their trade was going on
688
00:44:39.804 --> 00:44:41.730
long before the white man arrived.
689
00:44:41.730 --> 00:44:45.120
And what happened was once the white man arrived, you know,
690
00:44:45.120 --> 00:44:47.763
then the trading took different patterns.
691
00:44:50.010 --> 00:44:53.460
You see, your important lines of communication
692
00:44:53.460 --> 00:44:56.430
before the arrival of the white man was north and south.
693
00:44:56.430 --> 00:44:57.540
Huh? This was your...
694
00:44:57.540 --> 00:45:00.120
And that applies up in the North America too.
695
00:45:00.120 --> 00:45:01.650
If you look at your conformity,
696
00:45:01.650 --> 00:45:04.773
your physical conformity of the land, it\'s north and south.
697
00:45:06.120 --> 00:45:09.220
698
00:45:10.530 --> 00:45:12.660
about food.
699
00:45:12.660 --> 00:45:15.150
We are going to talk about food
700
00:45:15.150 --> 00:45:20.010
and how my people got their food.
701
00:45:20.010 --> 00:45:25.010
And some of the foods they got
702
00:45:25.170 --> 00:45:26.850
was from buffalo,
703
00:45:26.850 --> 00:45:31.830
from deer and moose and all those things.
704
00:45:31.830 --> 00:45:32.850
Okay?
705
00:45:32.850 --> 00:45:35.400
And for beginners,
706
00:45:35.400 --> 00:45:40.023
I wanna share with you that this is deer meat, okay?
707
00:45:40.980 --> 00:45:44.373
And gather it like this. Okay?
708
00:45:45.810 --> 00:45:50.810
And they grounded like this.
[rocking banging]
709
00:45:51.840 --> 00:45:53.913
And it took a very long time,
710
00:45:54.840 --> 00:45:57.600
took a very long time to do this.
711
00:45:57.600 --> 00:46:02.600
And eventually after they grounded like that,
712
00:46:02.700 --> 00:46:04.770
it looks like this.
713
00:46:04.770 --> 00:46:06.240
Like this, see.
714
00:46:06.240 --> 00:46:11.240
It\'s very ground and soft.
715
00:46:11.280 --> 00:46:14.103
Okay? This is high concentrate.
716
00:46:14.940 --> 00:46:19.940
It is very high concentrate. There\'s hardly any fat in this.
717
00:46:20.143 --> 00:46:22.650
[rock banging]
718
00:46:22.650 --> 00:46:23.880
While you\'re doing this,
719
00:46:23.880 --> 00:46:27.120
you can plan on what you can talk about
720
00:46:27.120 --> 00:46:31.330
with your teacher next time.
[rock banging]
721
00:46:33.781 --> 00:46:36.794
722
00:46:36.794 --> 00:46:41.044
[children chattering indistinctly]
723
00:46:56.012 --> 00:46:58.595
[oil sizzling]
724
00:47:00.415 --> 00:47:04.665
[children chattering indistinctly]
725
00:47:09.940 --> 00:47:12.773
[person chanting]
726
00:47:34.179 --> 00:47:37.262
[lighthearted music]
727
00:47:43.530 --> 00:47:45.660
728
00:47:45.660 --> 00:47:48.300
is not only changing in the cities.
729
00:47:48.300 --> 00:47:51.480
Across this land, bands and tribal councils
730
00:47:51.480 --> 00:47:53.553
are taking control of their education.
731
00:47:54.450 --> 00:47:57.450
In Saddle Lake, in northern Alberta,
732
00:47:57.450 --> 00:48:01.383
the Saddle Lake band has created Onchaminahos School.
733
00:48:02.730 --> 00:48:04.980
The school blends academic studies
734
00:48:04.980 --> 00:48:07.650
with Cree cultural education,
735
00:48:07.650 --> 00:48:10.410
developing curriculum that reflects a Cree view
736
00:48:10.410 --> 00:48:11.243
of the world.
737
00:48:14.160 --> 00:48:17.490
Phyllis Cardinal, our respected native educator,
738
00:48:17.490 --> 00:48:19.083
is the school\'s principle.
739
00:48:20.040 --> 00:48:22.830
740
00:48:22.830 --> 00:48:24.153
for Native people.
741
00:48:25.230 --> 00:48:28.470
Because aside from the paper that says
742
00:48:28.470 --> 00:48:29.853
that you\'ve completed this,
743
00:48:30.840 --> 00:48:33.570
it is also creating an awareness for them
744
00:48:33.570 --> 00:48:35.853
that they can do something,
745
00:48:36.840 --> 00:48:39.670
that they can take what is there to offer for them
746
00:48:40.860 --> 00:48:45.180
and make the adjustments for their children
747
00:48:45.180 --> 00:48:47.130
and their children\'s children,
748
00:48:47.130 --> 00:48:51.150
I guess to make it a world where it was once, you know,
749
00:48:51.150 --> 00:48:54.003
that they were in harmony with what was given to them.
750
00:48:55.680 --> 00:48:58.053
And I believe it\'s gonna happen.
751
00:48:59.739 --> 00:49:04.739
[teacher speaking Cree]
[students speaking Cree]
752
00:49:06.060 --> 00:49:07.561
753
00:49:07.561 --> 00:49:12.561
[teacher speaking Cree]
[students speaking Cree]
754
00:49:27.521 --> 00:49:29.430
[speaking Cree]
755
00:49:29.430 --> 00:49:31.347
756
00:49:33.153 --> 00:49:35.986
[singing in Cree]
757
00:49:37.230 --> 00:49:40.313
Sing.
[all sing in Cree]
758
00:49:48.300 --> 00:49:52.170
759
00:49:52.170 --> 00:49:54.180
Kept on going right into,
760
00:49:54.180 --> 00:49:56.190
and what did he run into?
761
00:49:56.190 --> 00:49:58.440
762
00:49:58.440 --> 00:50:00.390
that only thought farm life, nothing else.
763
00:50:00.390 --> 00:50:02.490
And he just thought that,
764
00:50:02.490 --> 00:50:03.990
just for something for his wife to do
765
00:50:03.990 --> 00:50:05.190
while there was his [indistinct],
766
00:50:05.190 --> 00:50:07.470
invite this guy over to play cards or something
767
00:50:07.470 --> 00:50:10.500
till he got back to make sure she was okay.
768
00:50:10.500 --> 00:50:12.576
769
00:50:12.576 --> 00:50:14.403
is the school\'s vice principal.
770
00:50:15.330 --> 00:50:17.940
For Gloria, education is a way
771
00:50:17.940 --> 00:50:20.433
of developing tomorrow\'s leaders.
772
00:50:24.960 --> 00:50:27.993
773
00:50:29.160 --> 00:50:31.410
And I\'m really proud to be a teacher.
774
00:50:31.410 --> 00:50:33.870
It\'s taken me a long time to get there.
775
00:50:33.870 --> 00:50:37.233
But when I was a little girl,
776
00:50:38.857 --> 00:50:42.210
I had dreams of one day becoming something
777
00:50:42.210 --> 00:50:44.250
and I didn\'t know what that was going to be,
778
00:50:44.250 --> 00:50:48.360
but I\'ve reached my goal.
779
00:50:48.360 --> 00:50:49.530
I taught nine years
780
00:50:49.530 --> 00:50:54.333
and I\'ve been a vice principal for five years now.
781
00:50:55.230 --> 00:50:57.930
And I\'m really happy to say that Saddle Lake
782
00:50:57.930 --> 00:51:01.560
has come a long way in their education system.
783
00:51:01.560 --> 00:51:05.073
I\'m really proud of our school system here in Saddle Lake.
784
00:51:10.020 --> 00:51:11.490
It\'s important for students
785
00:51:11.490 --> 00:51:15.780
to have the cultural values taught to them again.
786
00:51:15.780 --> 00:51:18.930
It\'s been too long that we\'ve sat back.
787
00:51:18.930 --> 00:51:21.913
And then from there our students have lost
788
00:51:21.913 --> 00:51:23.460
their cultural values,
789
00:51:23.460 --> 00:51:26.640
their traditions that they have a right to have.
790
00:51:35.095 --> 00:51:37.890
791
00:51:37.890 --> 00:51:41.700
And then you turn in your seam allowances and top stitch.
792
00:51:41.700 --> 00:51:43.380
793
00:51:43.380 --> 00:51:44.400
That way when you sew it here
794
00:51:44.400 --> 00:51:47.180
it won\'t go crooked like this when you sew it here.
795
00:51:47.180 --> 00:51:48.960
So when I sew it with the sewing machine,
796
00:51:48.960 --> 00:51:50.523
just go straight line.
797
00:51:52.140 --> 00:51:54.740
798
00:51:55.890 --> 00:51:57.990
and place them on the fold.
799
00:51:57.990 --> 00:52:00.523
According to your instructions, Amanda.
800
00:52:02.307 --> 00:52:05.057
[person humming]
801
00:52:09.265 --> 00:52:14.265
[lighthearted music]
[person continues humming]
802
00:52:26.456 --> 00:52:28.694
[children laughing]
803
00:52:28.694 --> 00:52:31.277
[upbeat music]
804
00:52:56.739 --> 00:52:59.906
[bus engine rumbling]
805
00:53:20.345 --> 00:53:22.590
[pages rustling]
806
00:53:22.590 --> 00:53:26.703
807
00:53:28.560 --> 00:53:31.890
Many of our children are still not educated
808
00:53:31.890 --> 00:53:34.173
in ways that respect their cultures.
809
00:53:36.210 --> 00:53:38.433
But our elders will be our guides.
810
00:53:39.840 --> 00:53:44.763
We only have to listen and follow them on the learning path.
811
00:53:50.820 --> 00:53:55.330
812
00:53:56.760 --> 00:53:58.083
of so much.
813
00:53:59.400 --> 00:54:01.053
Not intentionally,
814
00:54:02.520 --> 00:54:05.700
but because at the time
815
00:54:05.700 --> 00:54:09.453
I was not brave enough to say,
816
00:54:12.067 --> 00:54:14.667
\"Your way is not working.\"
817
00:54:18.000 --> 00:54:21.870
There is some learning that I have
818
00:54:21.870 --> 00:54:24.453
that might be productive.
819
00:54:26.010 --> 00:54:27.970
We are all responsible
820
00:54:29.940 --> 00:54:33.880
to make education and schools
821
00:54:35.190 --> 00:54:37.893
better places to come to.
822
00:54:43.500 --> 00:54:47.673
There is much that must go on yet.
823
00:54:51.510 --> 00:54:55.623
I wish my children,
824
00:54:57.150 --> 00:55:01.180
if one day they can hear
825
00:55:05.010 --> 00:55:10.010
that I have wanted so much to give them
826
00:55:15.060 --> 00:55:15.893
a gift.
827
00:55:17.550 --> 00:55:19.717
And that is to say,
828
00:55:19.717 --> 00:55:24.270
\"My children, if I have deprived you,
829
00:55:24.270 --> 00:55:25.773
I know I have,
830
00:55:28.050 --> 00:55:33.010
please understand, I am trying very hard
831
00:55:33.960 --> 00:55:38.170
to make a great dent
832
00:55:41.130 --> 00:55:44.500
in this learning path
[sniffles]
833
00:55:45.570 --> 00:55:47.733
because I want your children,
834
00:55:48.630 --> 00:55:50.320
I want your children
835
00:55:55.350 --> 00:55:56.373
to have a gift.
836
00:55:58.200 --> 00:56:00.063
And that is the breakthrough,
837
00:56:02.940 --> 00:56:04.953
breakthrough of our people\'s,
838
00:56:07.020 --> 00:56:08.800
our people\'s way of life
839
00:56:09.750 --> 00:56:13.192
coming about in classrooms.\"
840
00:56:13.192 --> 00:56:16.025
[people chanting]
841
00:56:23.130 --> 00:56:25.110
842
00:56:25.110 --> 00:56:28.170
My children, I love your children so much.
843
00:56:28.170 --> 00:56:31.770
My grandchildren and the grandchildren
844
00:56:31.770 --> 00:56:33.873
and generations to come.
845
00:56:35.430 --> 00:56:36.760
Your voices
846
00:56:38.790 --> 00:56:41.408
will echo louder than mine.
847
00:56:41.408 --> 00:56:44.241
[people chanting]
848
00:57:07.746 --> 00:57:11.329
[people continue chanting]
849
00:57:33.258 --> 00:57:36.841
[people continue chanting]
850
00:57:58.876 --> 00:58:02.459
[people continue chanting]
851
00:58:23.835 --> 00:58:27.418
[people continue chanting]
