Evidence of meeting #57 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was success.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Patrick Weiler Liberal West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for being here today and for the really interesting discussion we've been having here.
I want to pick up on a couple of questions for Connected North. Part of this study and a previous study we just completed on indigenous languages involved looking at the dislocation of indigenous peoples from land and language, damaging things that happened as a result of residential schools. They are really fundamental to moving ahead and creating a better future. I'm really quite fascinated with the approach you've been undertaking on experiential learning as well as on language.
I was hoping that you can speak a little bit more to the practicalities of how you're doing it and what you're doing, in particular when we're talking about experiential learning in connecting people to the land. When you are doing that in a remote way, how are you able to do that? How are your students connecting in that sense, and are they able to then kind of mimic what the teachings are in the place that they are doing that?
Director of Innovation, Connected North
Thanks. That's a great question.
We are really lucky to have a long-term partnership with Cisco, which founded the program in one school with a pilot. To date, they have donated almost $10 million of enterprise-class technology—which is usually used in corporate boardrooms, not in classrooms—so that students are able to have that kind of enterprise-class, high-quality, Webex-based solution.
A part of it is the technology in the classroom, but then for the presenters, for the people who are delivering those sessions—it could be on the land—we have been able to have some funding through the supports for student learning program to provide them with those bandwidth grants that I talked about and also with devices. It could be an iPad or a tablet computer, and they can actually be in the environment or in the field, whether that's doing a science experiment or out talking to students about traditional medicines. They can do that streaming everywhere.
There are a lot of sessions that still aren't possible in those environments, but we're working with Polar Bears International on the tundra in northern Manitoba out of Churchill, talking about polar bear research and climate change from the tundra.
A lot of opportunities are becoming possible, particularly around language revitalization. We work with Rainy River District School Board in northern Ontario. They actually use Connected North to deliver language instruction, because some of the schools don't have access to Ojibwa teachers. Through Connected North sessions, they are able to have a teacher from a school that does have that teacher to help fill that gap and support language learning.
We've also worked with students in five communities to date to publish indigenous language children's books, thanks to Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing here in Canada.
We're also looking at creative ways that we can bring those language resources to life and help students in communities create them where relevant and possible.
Liberal
Patrick Weiler Liberal West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
That's really great to hear.
One of the other applications I see is also in urban settings, where you sometimes have indigenous people who have moved there from their traditional territories.
I'm wondering if you have been able to look at how to recreate that connection and provide services like connection to the language and teachings of that nation while people are not able to be in their traditional territory, so that they would be able to perhaps see and talk about and do the same things with other people from their nation.
Director of Innovation, Connected North
We have done a little bit of that. We do serve Wandering Spirit School here in Toronto. There are a number of students who are able to connect in an urban environment with remote communities and have a bit of cultural exchange.
We also launched a program called Fireside Chats. In that program, we have now interviewed over 300 first nations, Inuit and Métis professionals, knowledge keepers, experts, artists and authors. They share their stories on an on-demand basis. We have an indigenous journalist who has written their stories and illustrated them.
We're also looking at creating more on-demand resources that can serve every student. Our focus at Connected North is remote communities, but we've heard a lot of demand, as you said, from urban communities. We've created several programs and resources, including Fireside Chats, Create to Learn and Your Voice is Power, to try to provide some resources to those urban communities as well.
Liberal
Patrick Weiler Liberal West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
That's great.
I have just one last question. I was hoping you could speak to the importance of role models in the programming that you offer.
Could you speak to the importance of that, please?
Director of Innovation, Connected North
Thanks.
I know we've heard that from a previous panellist as well. That's what the Fireside Chats program is all about. It's about students seeing themselves in their learning, identifying those role models and making those accessible and available in the classroom. A huge part of the program has been ensuring that the students can see themselves represented in their learning.
We're also working at building a network of post-secondary students who are going into these programs through indigenous support staff at those colleges and universities so that they can help student see that pathway and follow in their footsteps.
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Jenica Atwin
Thank you, Mr. Weiler.
Go ahead, Mrs. Gill. You have two and a half minutes.
Bloc
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Ms. Smith, you've mentioned the resource “Their Voices Will Guide Us” a number of times. It's something you seem to consult often.
Can you tell us a bit more about it, and explain why it's so helpful and important to you?
Interim Adviser to the President, Native Women's Association of Canada
Thank you.
Yes. I keep bringing it up. In NWAC, we have our own action plan to implement the calls for justice, and promoting it is one of them, but I do truly believe in the resource. It offers a pedagogy that's different. I haven't seen another resource like it, and that's why I just want educators to know it's out there. It's a resource. You can find the age of the child you're teaching and go directly to that source.
It's very enlightening in terms of how it talks about the indigenous woman and how colonialism really affected their value and their role in the minds of people. It talks about the stereotypes that came from colonialism and that sort of thing. It gives the truth about how valuable indigenous women are. It talks about the roles of indigenous women in the fur trade. It talks about midwives and healers and that sort of thing. Those are not things that we see in traditional, formal, educational pedagogies. It's a very valuable resource.
There's this message of truth but also of resilience. That's so important for indigenous women, gender-diverse and transgendered people to feel, but also part of the education is how to remain safe as an indigenous woman navigating the world. That's so important too, and that's a key piece of this discussion as well.
It's online. I can't speak about it enough. It really does give you a sense of what is needed for indigenous girls, women and gender-diverse people to succeed.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Jenica Atwin
Thank you, Mrs. Gill.
We'll now have Ms. Idlout for two and a half minutes.
NDP
Lori Idlout NDP Nunavut, NU
[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I want to thank my interpreters because I am able to speak in my indigenous language, my first language.
I also thank the staff here, because they let me speak Inuktitut now.
Being able to speak our language, our mother tongue, is another example of our strength. I just want to show my interpreter how much I appreciate her.
Do you recall my question from earlier? Do you still have the response you wanted to give to my question earlier?
Thank you.
Advisory Board Member, Connected North
I'm sorry, but I think I got lost in the translation.
Could you please repeat the question?
NDP
Lori Idlout NDP Nunavut, NU
[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]
My first question was this: Because you do a really good job through Connected North, how can those of us who are members of Parliament help Connected North to expand or help it to run more successfully? Do you have any needs to be met?
Thank you.
Advisory Board Member, Connected North
Very good.
I'll start off the answer, and then I'll turn to Michael for the hard data there.
It seems that the current government has funded technological advancements, but they haven't necessarily been put in the right places, and the quality of the service provided through the technology they've invested in isn't high enough to facilitate learning and development in our communities up north.
That's a huge miss, and I understand that while we're making efforts, we may not see everyone. To me, it really is about results. It's one thing to fund big lofty programs, but we have to make sure they work and that they reach the people they're intended to serve, and, more importantly, that we can use these tools, this technology, the connectivity, to be able to work together towards achieving outcomes and results for, in this case, indigenous youth.
I'll turn it over to Mike.
Director of Innovation, Connected North
The only thing I would add is that—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Jenica Atwin
Mr. Furdyk, I'm so sorry. We're out of time. If you would be able to submit that to our committee, we would appreciate the data for sure.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Jenica Atwin
Thank you so much to our witnesses for joining us today.
We're going to briefly suspend as we switch to meeting in camera.
Thank you so much.
[Proceedings continue in camera]