Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Education is about going to school, learning… [Translation] …we learn from the school. We sit around the table and listen and learn. Also, we work in the bush, as well, to educate ourselves in our culture and…[Translation ends]
[English not provided]
…our extended families and the knowledge is passed on through... [Translation] We learn from our culture. We learn from our legends and this is how our culture is passed on. This is how we learn as Dene people. [Translation ends]
…sometimes it is a detriment to the society of the NWT. Sometimes we are reminded of the reality that we are just fresh out of the residential school experience, and to go forth in education you have to be removed from your family and from your community. There’s still a persistent view that once you do that you become a different person. So parents, at the best of times, have a hard time letting their children go to an institution of changing a person that they love and care for into another person that’s educated and will go forth into the future.
The current reality is that in the NWT a First Nations community on average has a Grade 9 education. We have low levels of attendance. Our high school graduation rates are very low. At the same time, our students in the small communities don’t fare as well as students in the larger centres and…. [Translation] …for our young people we have to make sure that they grow up to be good people, and if they are well educated they will have a good future. Having them represent us in the future as good people would be beneficial for us. [Translation ends]
That’s what we think. But today the view from the elders is also that, you know, one elder in particular, or some elders that I’ve come across coined this phrase that I take to my heart and, roughly translated, it says, “You go into the future holding a pen, and that’s how you’ll gain a foot into society.”
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
[Translation] Our elders say we will go into the future holding a pen. This is how the old people are saying we will benefit from the education [Translation ends]
…and together at work to agree that as a goal we need to act upon this and make it a priority to ensure that we improve the lives of our people, all of our people in the NWT. One goal that we should all aspire to work towards is our high school graduation rates. Let’s agree that by 2016 we will graduate with at least 2,000 students by that time. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
