I think young people who choose this kind of occupation should have the same certificates as others, if only because growing numbers of aboriginal people are entering urban areas in Quebec. They have to be able to speak with other caseworkers. They're already attending meetings, seminars and conferences.
I also think that non-aboriginals should also have minimum training on work in aboriginal environments. That's being done in a lot of provinces, but very little in Quebec. It's possible to earn diplomas in social work and in other fields without ever taking a course on aboriginal people. That's particularly surprising because there are aboriginals everywhere in Quebec. I think it would be desirable for everyone to receive training on that subject.
We have to find a way for aboriginal people to stay at school. Personally, if I knew of one, I would try to apply it right away. I don't know one. School is definitely a very charged issue. Young people don't necessarily want to stay there because they don't necessarily feel very comfortable there. School is not a very appropriate place for taking in aboriginal students. In addition, the aboriginal schools have to teach the provincial curriculum. That curriculum is at times very difficult to implement. Since the schools are very isolated, they have to adjust to the fact that the students live in a violent environment at home. When they come to school, they aren't necessarily focused or able to follow well.
It must nevertheless be understood that most of the aboriginal peoples in Quebec became sedentary starting in the 1950s. The history of relations with schools is necessarily very negative; I'm thinking in particular of the Indian residential schools. That had a very impact on an entire generation of people here in Quebec. As a result, schools is still perceived as a place that's part of the colonial machinery. Even though immense effort have been made by people who want to develop education and aboriginals who want to develop education, you don't change that image in a few years. It takes time and information. We have to dress wounds and address trauma that have been transmitted by that history of Indian residential schools.
I don't know whether that completely answers your question. My colleague may have something to add. There is a tendency to want to tell aboriginal young people what they have to do in life. Personally, I've had the great luck in my life of doing what I wanted. No one told me that I had to become an anthropologist. My parents didn't even know what that occupation was. I told them that I wanted to become an anthropologist. I was enormously lucky to be able to decide completely on my own what I wanted to do.
My wish is for aboriginal young people to have as much good fortune as I did and for them to be able to choose, for them to be able to have access to a large bank of occupations and for them to know more about what they are capable of doing. I've often heard young people tell me that they aren't sure they are capable because they're aboriginal. I'm enraged by that. I've been working with them for years and they're as capable as anyone else. This is part of those accumulated injuries. I would like them to choose to do what they want.