Yes. That's a great question. Thank you.
I am aware of the gender disparity, but I don't have the stats before me. I can follow up, though, with more details. I think it probably will make other members happy too to have that sort of data.
I can talk briefly about the reasons for the gender disparity. When we talk about indigenous education, I can go on about this, but we need to have a shift in what the measure of success is, and we have to decolonize our way of thinking towards education when it comes to indigenous people.
When you have a young indigenous woman or a gender-diverse or transgendered indigenous person, there are colonial harms such as transphobia and homophobia at play. However, it's also about the safety of the indigenous person, so we need to really talk about that.
I know that NWAC has an online resource called “Safe Passage”. Even in that, you're talking about human rights. Oftentimes, unfortunately, women have to think about their safety, and sometimes that's given more priority than studying for a certain exam and that sort of thing.
Also, then, you hear me talk about wraparound services. Oftentimes in formal education, we need to shift the focus away from a traditional service-driven, problem-based approach to care, and instead think of a strength-based, needs-driven approach. We have to think about a lot of factors in there.
I know that I'm going around the question, but certainly, yes, there is a disparity. I spoke a bit on why that is, but I can certainly follow up.