I think the greatest obstacle to our moving forward in terms of education is the division that I see. I look at this room, and I assume that opposition is on this side and government is on that side. That's where it becomes a little bit challenging in terms of how we move forward in a good way, understanding that it needs to be about developing partnerships.
We need to understand that if we were to raise the indigenous graduation rates and narrow that gap, the economic effect on the Canadian GDP would in the hundreds of billions of dollars. We start with that as the primary understanding of why it is important. We get healthier communities. I look at Fort Providence. I was blessed because that is my home community. I was a sixties scoop kid and I was also a residential Indian day school student, so I carry that understanding.
I'm in the community, living with a non.... My family is not indigenous, so that has made me really aware of the challenges of walking in both worlds, understanding that I need to be a voice for my community.
In the midst of our programming, between 2008 and 2013, our attendance rates were well over 95%. That meant that some days I wanted some kids to go home, but they were there.