Good morning.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to acknowledge that we are on unceded territory of the Algonquin.

My name is George Cote. I am the chief of Cote First Nation in Saskatchewan. It's an Ojibwa tribe with a community of about 4,400.

I'd like to thank Mary Jane McCallum for bringing this bill to the Senate. I acknowledge all of the leaders who are here today, all of the staff and, of course, my people back home in Cote First Nation. Chris Kulak is online, along with his wife and, of course, Isabella. Isabella is the reason I'm here.

It really took a lot of courage for this young lady to do what she did, because to open the eyes of not only our community, but the province, Canada and the international community, and to show how proud she was to be indigenous, wearing a symbol with the ribbon skirt.... Unfortunately, the teacher she had at the time was ignorant of the culture of our community.

Forgiveness was given by the family. Instead of turning this into a negative.... Speaking with Chris and his wife Lana, after it broke the heart of his young girl, who went to school with something that she was very proud of to show her identity, which was taught by her grandmother, Stella Pallet, and her grandfather, Vincent Cadotte.... You can see the importance of how we have to teach our youth who they are and where they come from. In education, it's very important that we let other people know about our culture.

In the spirit of truth and reconciliation, talking with Chris and Lana, we decided to make this have a positive impact on our nation. We decided that we would have a ribbon skirt day and Isabella would wear a ribbon skirt, along with all of the women and her peers. They wore their skirts on a special day to acknowledge what she went through.

A ribbon skirt is something that our community and our ladies have been wearing in ceremonies. It represents a lot of issues with regard to what our people have been going through, with murdered and missing women, suicide and a lot of the addictions that are in our community. It's a way of us coming together and healing.

With the participation of the Good Spirit School Division, Cote First Nation and the Kamsack Comprehensive Institute, we decided to come together and come up with a day when this young girl, Isabella, could tell the world her story in a manner that was supported by her dad, Chris, and her mother, Lana.

I really appreciate this couple, who reached out to the chief and council of Cote First Nation to make this something that's going to bring the community together. It's not only our first nations communities, but also the non-first nations communities.

The senator talked about this young Ukrainian girl who stood beside Isabella, wearing her mom's dress that she wore when she was in school. It shows how much of an impact it made on her fellow students.

That's what we wanted to do. You'll probably hear a bit more from Chris with regard to how it made him proud that a young girl opened the eyes of the world.

We're so blinded by so many things, and racism plays a big part in our lives. How do we end that? We end that by listening to our children and by watching our children. They're so pure. Isabella was so pure, but her heart was broken. Coming together, we can heal that little heart.

When she saw the impact she made, not only in our nation but in the world, it turned her life around. It turned the family's life around. It turned Cote First Nation around, and hopefully it will turn the country around. Hopefully it will turn the world around.

I really appreciate the time and effort that the Senate is spending on this bill. We really appreciate it. We're honoured to be here.

I really thank you, Chair, for this time, and I'll just leave it at that.

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