Thank you. That's an excellent question.
Anyone who knows me is probably tired of hearing me talking about this, but I can follow up with the committee on something that I'm really proud of that NWAC did: the culturally relevant gender-based analysis.
I bring that up because in there.... It's really for policy-makers like yourselves to ask hard questions and to ensure that any sort of policy, study or strategy takes into account colonization and takes a trauma-informed approach.
Let's just make up a person who's transgender, disabled and living on reserve. Let's make sure that any sorts of educational efforts and any sorts of efforts when it comes to policy and legislation take into account that person so that this person is not left behind.
You know, truth and reconciliation is hard work. It's all of our work, and we have to ask ourselves....
I was formally trained in law school. Although I'm an Inuk woman, I was separated from my culture due to colonialism and I struggle every day to decolonize my thoughts and not take things for granted. That's what we all do.
Madame Gill, I really appreciate your question. I think it's a good question: Where should our efforts go?
It's oversimplifying it to say that we need to have a decolonizing shift, because what does that mean?
We need people to understand that it's not just formal education and the curricula that we have to focus on; it's those wraparound services that are needed as well for indigenous women and girls and gender-diverse and transgender people.
Maybe there need to be more services in language revitalization. When an indigenous girl feels proud of who she is, it's proven that she will attain better educational outcomes.
What I like about....
I'm sorry that I'm jumping all over the place. I'm really excited to have this discussion.
“Their Voices Will Guide Us” is a resource that I keep referring to. What I love about it is that at the heart of it, it is teaching children—non-indigenous children as well—how valued indigenous women are. When children have love in their hearts and minds for indigenous women and girls, they're less prone to violence and other things that may take them off the course of achieving better educational rates. Part of that is also incorporating indigenous women and girls into the education. Maybe they want to hear from knowledge keepers. Maybe they want to connect with the land in traditional ways of learning. Maybe they want to learn from midwives and healers. Maybe they need positive role models to talk about resiliency, because we're still here.
I know I've given you a lot information and I don't know if I answered the question directly, but thank you for that question.