Wela'lin. Thank you.
I've been teaching for the last 30 years at universities and I've been using a methodology called the talking circle. The talking circle started with a sacred ceremony, a spiritual ceremony. An eagle feather or a talking stick is passed around, and people speak one at a time. That process can take us into a lot of areas. I've focused on law, traditional laws, indigenous philosophies, and education about environment and climate change. We were able to talk about all of these things, one at a time. With the Marshall Institute, we've been focusing on those issues in our first nations communities, and people have been sharing those concepts, one at a time, listening while the others are speaking, and coming up with a final resolution, mostly agreeable to everybody and built on consensus. Some people may not agree, but they'll nod their heads and walk away and say it's okay with them the way it is.
I think it's a meaningful way to get opinions from other people without talking at each other and screaming at one another in an assembly.