As you know, I spent a lot of time in my career as an educator. During my time as an educator, I had the privilege of working with a lot of indigenous students and their families in the northwest part of the city of Winnipeg, where I come from.
One of the things I noticed—in addition to so many of the challenges indigenous families still face as a result of intergenerational trauma born of residential schools, colonial policies and all the things we're well aware of—is that within the public education system specifically, because of a shortage of educational opportunities, we often see students having to leave their communities to come down to the big cities like Winnipeg, for example, where they are vulnerable. There's a bit of culture shock. There's susceptibility to gang influence. They are away from their families. There are all sorts of different challenges posed as a result of this. A lot of it has to do with provincial government jurisdiction over education, of course.
I was wondering if you could talk to us a bit more about the role of the federal government in supporting indigenous education across the country. Could you talk to us about some of the guidance or suggestions you might be hearing from indigenous leaders, specifically in relation to the education system in our country?
Thank you.