Thank you.
When I have kids in my office, I often ask their parents to tell me what their gifts are, as a place to understand that the relationship between community and families needs to be integral as a starting place.
Success is so many different things. If you're a good person or if you have the skills to respond in your community in a good way, those are all the metrics of success that I need.
We have students who struggle with literacy and numeracy skills, but what they bring to our community is what we need. We need doctors, we need lawyers and we need health care professionals and teachers, but we also need those people who are community members who will take care of us, who will....
I think Michael will agree that in Fort Providence over the last eight months, we have experienced some incredible loss. The beauty of the community is how we come together in that loss and how we acknowledge our losses. For me, that's success.
Success is not about graduating at 16, 17 or 18, but about making sure that you have the skills to be a good person, living in both worlds.
I don't know if that is something you can take away, but I think that as indigenous peoples, we have the opportunity to lead in so many ways.
Marsi.