[Member spoke in Inuktitut as follows:]
ᖁᔭᓐᓇᒦᒃ ᐃᒃᓯᕙᐅᑕᓖᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ, ᐋ, ᐃᓘᓐᓇᓯ ᖁᔭᓐᓇᒦᖅᐸᒃᓯ, ᐋ, ᑐᓴᕐᓂᖅᑐᐃᓐᓈᓘᒐᑦᓯ, ᐋ, ᐃᓄᒃᑐᑦ ᐅᓂᒃᑳᖃᑦᑕ− ᕋᓗᐊᕋᒪ ᑭᓯᐊᓂ, ᐋ, ᖃᓪᓗᓈᑎᑐᑦ ᐊᐱᕆᓂᐊᕋᒪ ᖃᐅᔨᒪᑐᐃᓐ ᖃᐅᔨᒪᖁᑐᐃᓐᓇᖅᓱᓯ ᐅᖃᓪᓚᒃᑕᕋ, ᐋᒻ, ᑐᑭᓯᓇᒃᓯᐊ− ᖁᓪᓗᒍ ᑐᓵᔩᑦ ᖁᔭᓕᖃᑦᑕᕋᓗᐊᖅᑕᒃᑲ ᑭᓯᐊᓂ ᖃᓪᓗᓈᑎᑑᕐᓂᐊᕋᒪ.
[Inuktitut text interpreted as follows:]
Thank you, Chairperson. I thank all of the witnesses who have come here to share their progress. Although I speak mainly in my language, I will be asking my questions in English so they will be clearer. I'm thankful that we have interpreters, but I will be speaking in English. Thank you.
[English]
My questions will be to Blaire Gould.
I want to share briefly my life history. Just so you know, it might need to have a trigger warning. My dad died by suicide when I was about six or seven years old. Because of that, I was raised in the foster care system, and because of the foster care system, I grew up in several different communities. In all of these different communities, I went to several different schools.
My story is very common when it comes to indigenous peoples' history. We have very inconsistent education. We don't have regular teachers. A lot of the times, we don't have consistent care. Despite that history, to get back to who I am, I was able to complete my grade 12. I was able to get my undergraduate degree, and I was able to go to law school and become a lawyer. I think part of the reason I am who I am today is that my education included teachings from elders, from teachers—always elders and teachers—and all of my foster parents telling me how important it was to have coping skills to know how to survive.
Blaire, you touched a little bit in your presentation on pathways. I'm very struck by the success that you had at MK, and I think MK really needs to be modelled by many more jurisdictions. I wonder if you could share more about how you're able to use the strengths of the Mi'kmaq to make sure that you have success with your students.