This is a major step on the path. As I said, in my community we've been working on this since the early seventies. One thing that is so critical is that we need to be able to regenerate the language in every aspect of life in our community. School is one of them. School, because it's so important, is key. For example, one thing that happens in that school is that children spend time on the land. This is really important. In our case, language learning has to be a reconnection to our relationships, a reconnection to the land and to everything that's on the land. It has to assert that it's a caring and kind relationship. That's really important.
Part of it, then, is that the message has to be that it isn't just learning a language; it's also learning the world view and the cultural ways of the people. It's a relationship with the land. It's a relationship with the ancestors. It's a relationship with the people who are coming. It's a relationship with all areas of the community. That view of education is very different from the western world's view. The western world separates children from their families and from multigenerations. It separates children from the land. It's really important for schools to be able to graduate people based on their cultural world view.
My community has always said, from the very beginning, that it's also important for us to know that we need to exist in multiple worlds. One thing we need to be able to do is to cross the boundaries of those different worlds, and to be able to do it without losing our sense of self. Knowing your language and knowing the intricacies and the beauty of your world will help you to do that and to have a positive experience, one where you're able to live in and engage with multiple worlds, not the destructive one that we've experienced.
That's what communities like mine have to rebuild and re-establish. It can be a very frightening experience. Everybody has said that education has to look like the English way. Everybody has said that the strength of a person is how well they speak the English and French languages. One of the challenges we face is for us to be able to see the strength and beauty of our own languages, and for the outside world to be able to appreciate and see that. To hear the languages at this table is really critical. Canada needs to step that up a bit so that Canadians can feel and value indigenous languages.
Thank you.