Wonderful.
My name is Kelsey. I'm the executive director at Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning. I'm joining you today from Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories.
I have the great honour and privilege of working at Dechinta, where we've been delivering award-winning, indigenous-led, land-based post-secondary programming since 2010. I'm incredibly grateful for the invitation to share with you, as legislators and decision-makers, what I have the privilege of learning from indigenous learners every day as we work to support indigenous educational success.
Dechinta's classrooms are the lands, and our programs are as diverse as the north. Here in Chief Drygeese territory, you'll hear Wıìlıìdeh Yatii and children's laughter echoing across camp as students learn about research methods or land claims or the impacts of climate change on food security. You'll see infants bundled on snowmobiles, and elders on the backs of toboggans heading out to camps that they visited as young people. They are all on an educational journey that brings them home and heals.
Dechinta's family-inclusive programming was codesigned by indigenous faculty and elders to create education models that celebrate the knowledge of indigenous communities and help mitigate barriers that folks are facing when accessing post-secondary. We create learning spaces for young people that enable parents to participate in education. For those young people, seeing their family members and their community as learners and teachers enables them to see themselves in expansive education and employment pathways.
In order to support educational outcomes of children, we collectively need to be committed to the educational success of parents, family members and communities. If we want to support families and communities to learn, we need to create learning spaces that celebrate strengths and transform people's relationships to education.
University-level accredited programming at Dechinta lasts between one to six weeks and is open to people of all ages. For some students, it's the start of their education journey. For others, it renews their commitment to learning. In the past year we've had over 200 applicants to our program: 40% of those applicants needed indigenous approaches to health and wellness, and 20% requested child care to support their success.
Our job is to create programming that's accessible to diverse learners, providing comprehensive wraparound supports to ensure their success and open up diverse education and employment pathways by ensuring that the credentials registered students obtain are portable. In this, we ensure that students are supported and celebrated in every step they take towards achieving their educational goals.
Research demonstrates that the stories people tell themselves have a direct effect on their learning outcomes. When learners don't believe they can learn, they don't. The incredible thing is that, as much as these negative stereotypes dampen achievements, affirmation nurtures success. Crucially, confidence of a learner in one area impacts their success in others. When we see someone thriving on the land and being celebrated for their skills and knowledge or for the care they take with their community, this will impact the success they have in other areas of learning.
Long-term and predictable investments by Canada in community-directed indigenous education enables us to build relationships, create trust and create new programs. This is the call the government answered when supporting Dechinta through Canada's comprehensive approach in the Arctic policy framework and recognizing the centrality of education and research in supporting a healthy north. It directly supports people of all generations to imagine themselves in education. It creates meaningful work, strong and healthy communities, and new programming that reflects the diversity of educational needs and pathways. This requires the creation of a learning space where indigenous learners, teachers and elders feel comfortable, where we're learning and healing together.
I'll leave you with a quote from a Yellowknives Dene First Nation member and student of Dechinta, Bertha Drygeese:
The first sight of self-governance community [at] Dechinta brought me back...four decades...when I felt the cold, crisp air on my face—it felt like a dream which I could finally wake up to.... I felt sure of myself after practicing my culture and tradition.... It all came clear… I am home. I am here on my homeland.... I came back to myself, my land and my people.... I thought to myself, “maybe I was not lost, just disconnected”.
Mahsi cho .