Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Qujannamiik. [Witness spoke in Cree, interpreted as follows] I would like to talk about our reserve in terms of the COVID epidemic we had. Although we were given the technology to use for each household, we couldn't even use online schooling because we didn't have cell service.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  [Witness spoke in Cree, interpreted as follows:] What I wanted to say is that there is a lack of electricians. We lack carpenters. We lack accountants. We also lack people in policy-making. We lack all the ones that I named. If they were to attend university or any colleges to be taught all these different trades, then we would be able to support ourselves.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. [Witness spoke in Cree, interpreted as follows:] [Technical difficulty—Editor]

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  [Witness spoke in Cree, interpreted as follows:] I want to talk about myself and about my own journey towards education. I shouldn't really be bragging about myself and my own education, but when it comes to it, I went to school on the reserve. I grew up going to school there.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  [Witness spoke in Cree, interpreted as follows:] I want to greet you all. I want to talk to the Creator. First and foremost, I have to thank the Creator for giving us this day. The reason I am here today is to talk about the graduation rates of our first nation students, our youth and the ones who are going to universities and colleges.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  [Witness spoke in Plains Cree, interpreted as follows:] I would like to commend you for asking these questions. I thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. If you look at mental health, that's the mind. How do we heal our minds? There are two things that we're looking at.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  [Witness spoke in Plains Cree, interpreted as follows:] In 2015, when we first started our not-for-profit and in the beginning when we first started kâniyâsihk Culture Camps, we did not have these knowledge keepers, the helpers for our ceremonies. Here, we have kids who are hunting, trapping and fishing—feeding the elders, feeding the community, feeding the schools and the ceremonial holders.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  [Witness spoke in Plains Cree, interpreted as follows:] I would like to thank the Creator for allowing us to come and present on Parliament Hill. I would like to thank you for the invitation. I would like to thank the Creator for giving us this language and how much we love our language.