Thank you.
To begin, I'd first like to acknowledge that I'm gathered with everyone here today on the unceded Anishinabe Algonquin territories. I come from the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples and, particularly, the Kwantlen, Katzie, Semiahmoo and Musqueam nations in British Columbia. For me, it's really important to acknowledge that.
This is only my second meeting. I was only put on this committee last week, for my first meeting. It's a real pleasure to be here.
I want to thank my Conservative colleagues for the very warm welcome. It's a pleasure. I'm looking forward to working with everybody, as well as the NDP and Bloc members.
I'm still getting up to speed on what this study's about. It's very deep content. I'd like to thank each of our speakers today for the thoughts they've given us so far.
I have to say, Ms. Battiste, that your son sits in front of me. I told him that if he was here today, I was going to ask you for some personal stories. I won't put on you for the story. We'll focus your expertise in other areas. It's a real pleasure to have you here and to work with your son here in the House of Commons.
I have had a chance to move around this amazing country and live in the traditional territories of many first nations, from southern and northern Ontario, through all three prairie provinces and various regions of British Columbia, Yukon and the Northwest Territories. One of the things that I've seen related to education....
Ms. Battiste, your comments about decolonizing and unpacking colonial structures really resonated with me.
I hear from our Kwantlen community members, who say they want their kids to have a good education, but when the fish start running, they need to be out on the land. There's always this conflict between school schedules and traditional lifestyles.
We've heard from all of you about the importance of language—developing that language and language retention—as part of identity and success.
I'd like to give you a moment to talk a bit more about that unpacking of colonial structures. What does that look like?
I'm sure that there's flexibility in how we build schedules and curricula that will allow families and communities to get out on the land at the appropriate times without sacrificing or missing school time. It's about having language accessible from preschool right through the education system.
What else does that look like, as far as unpacking those colonial structures to lead us to greater outcomes is concerned?