[Witness spoke in Cree and provided the following text:]

Tanisi, Asini Iskwew ay-see-ka-soo-wan. Nekaneet oo-chi-niya.

[Witness provided the following translation:]

Hello. How are you? My name is Stone Woman. I am from Nekaneet.

[English]

Good afternoon, new honourable chairman and honourable members. Thank you for the invitation to present the great work we are doing in partnership with Headwater Learning Solutions in Alberta. It is an extreme honour. I bring greetings from Treaty 4 territory.

I'd like to acknowledge Ms. Dana Braunberger, a member of our team. She will also be available to answer any questions you might have.

We all know the dismal statistics of first nations education and the devastating impacts that has had. I have witnessed the far-reaching consequences of the one-size-fits-all approach to education that began with residential schools, day schools, provincial school systems and many others. As a lifelong educator, I have seen the growth of many great things and some not so great. The work that we are doing right now with Headwater Learning Solutions works.

I first began working with Headwater Learning Solutions in 2017, when we signed a three-year partnership with Thunderchild First Nation in Saskatchewan. The work, which we continue to do, was focused on facilitating the unique vision that Thunderchild had for the education of their youth, grounded in the needs of the students and the community. It was a transformative approach, focused on building a sustainable and scalable solution that helps prepare youth to be internationally competitive while having knowledge and pride in their identify as Thunderchild citizens in an ever-evolving environment.

Headwater Learning Solutions continues to make a commitment to the 1970s principle as defined by our leaders from that era, that of Indian control of Indian education. The work we do is highly customized to what the community has expressed it wants for the education of its youth as well as implementing the full treaty right to education as signed by our past leaders. Rather than taking a piecemeal approach to promoting and implementing what the community wants, through our authentic partnership we are able to unravel complexities to develop an integrated, systemic approach that defines education solutions more broadly to include the cultural, academic and social needs of the students.

At the end of the Thunderchild partnership, measurable success was present at every level. Eighty per cent of teachers demonstrated improved urgency, intentionality and rigour in the planning and delivery of their classes. With the development of culturally based guiding principles, which we call PISIM at Thunderchild, Thunderchild traditions, ceremonies, values and the Cree language were infused daily into the school and into the classrooms. The result was that student participation and engagement increased substantially. Nearly 70% of students were able to close their three- to five-year learning gaps in foundational reading and numeracy skills. This increased student success also fuelled increased teacher confidence and competence. The school was successful in retaining 75% of its staff for the length of the project, which is a substantial improvement to the high teacher turnover of the past.

A huge part of the success with this work is that HLS is a not-for-profit organization and is able to offer services based on the community's identified needs irrespective of profit opportunity, but it also provides the opportunity for it to engage in fund development to make up the shortfall required to address the needs of students, teachers and education leaders. Because of historical injustices perpetuated on first nations peoples and communities, there were, and continue to be, many complexities that challenge the delivery of effective education programming. The resources required to best address these complexities far exceed current funding models, predicated on provincial comparability. Targeted needs-based funding continues to be required.

Our work is built on the foundation that was instilled within me through the values and principles as lived by my late father, Gordon Oakes, who has a student centre named after him at the University of Saskatchewan. It has a portrait of a team of horses, a red horse and a white horse, pulling a wagon. The painting has two messages that we follow. It illustrates the need and promise for first nations children to be provided with a deep understanding of and pride in their own identity—their community's cultural knowledges, teachings and the language—and to be provided with the competencies to learn the cunning of the white man so that they are able to choose whatever future they want. It also reflects the importance for first nations and non-first nations people to continue to work together in a good way to address the education needs and opportunities for all our youth.

Both Dana and I being here today reflects that team of horses.

Thank you. Hai hai. Kinana'skomitina'wa'w. Thank you for listening.

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