Description of the video:
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the OCM nc8 queen sauce or remote check
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momento nay
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so I introduced myself from my Squamish
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dialect it's a dying language I know
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very few words so I hope today to take
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you on a journey of my dad's journey my
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journey and then the journey of you as
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educators when it comes to Aboriginal
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education as you can see by my title
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courage is the key theme for me today it
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takes courage for us to move forward
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with Aboriginal education it takes
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courage for me to stand in front of you
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today because as short as 50 years ago I
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was not allowed to speak to a crowd like
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this if I was alive and so through the
Courage
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process today we need to make a
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difference for our future students and
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obviously for our students today courage
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means one something to me courage might
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mean something different than you
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courage might be something different to
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the person sitting next to you but in
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the end we all must take that leap of
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faith leap of faith and try something
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different with Aboriginal education I
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talk about my dad my dad is my hero my
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dad allows me to be here today stand on
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his shoulders to tell his story he's a
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76 year old man that is makes a world of
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difference for me on a daily basis he is
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still alive today he's a hero like I
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always say but in the end he struggled
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through life he is a residential school
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survivor he attended st. Paul's Indian
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Residential school in North Vancouver
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right where present-day Saint Thomas
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Aquinas school is he endured seven years
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of school and through this school we're
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not here to talk today about the abuse
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that he endured on a daily basis we're
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here to talk about his courage to be the
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man he is today without a doubt he led a
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liar a hard life as a teenager but when
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he became a father I have two brothers
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two sisters and they are my foundation
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for education my dad was able to teach
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us to be strong-willed people even
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though he did not have that experience
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as a kid in the end the foundations that
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we have created among
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our family unit has allowed all of us to
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be successful in life
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I feel though with how there's words of
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courage for me to be the best that they
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could be I would not be able to stand
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here today we had our family struggles
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as we all know the intergenerational
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impacts of residential schools that is
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alive and well today with my family I
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did not have my own children I have two
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stepchildren because I was afraid to
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have my own children because the way we
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were brought up and so in the end today
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my mother and father my mothers of
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Scottish ancestry they are the
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foundation for me my wife my stew step
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kids and my two grandkids they made me
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strong they made me stand proud to be an
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indigenous person but in the end it was
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not always like that for me as a First
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Nations person so you look at the big
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issue around being First Nations it's
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not easy being a First Nations person
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it's not easy being the First Nations
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educator as we are the ones there that
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are carving a new path in education to
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move forward with the courage I attend a
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Queen Mary Elementary School in North
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Vancouver I went to school with all my
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cousins all my friends from the Reserve
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I grew up on the reserve called Mission
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in and Reserve number one in North
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Vancouver it's still there beautiful
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part of the world I then attended
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Sutherland Secondary School in North
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Vancouver and the photo behind me is
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three of my best friends today still my
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best friends from 1983 but it was not
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easy when I went to that school the
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first week of classes in woodshop they
Identity
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paired us in groups of four these three
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fine gentlemen were my partners that day
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great guys still my best friends today
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we're shooting the breeze Tom what
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sports we play where we're from the
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other sister where do you live then
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finally one of them asked me what part
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of Italy are you from and I did not say
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a word I do not know what to say to my
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friends I went home that day after
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school on a Friday afternoon went to my
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mom and dad and asked them where's our
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atlas
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I want to look at her outlets and went
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to my room open up the outlet found the
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country of Italy and found a small town
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of Italy where I could tell my friends
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were him from that night I cried myself
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to sleep I cried myself to sleep for
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many nights the first few months of high
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school remember seblon was a school in
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the early 80s where there is very few
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non Europeans within the crowd I went to
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school with my brother two indigenous
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kids in the entire school my brother and
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I have a love-hate relationship I love
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him dearly
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but I still beat the crap out of him
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every day in school pretty well but in
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the end through that process of me not
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being proud of a First Nations person I
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had lost my identity that very day when
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I was afraid to stand up to my friends
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to tell them who I was I did not have
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the courage to let them know who I was
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and where I was from it took 15 months
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for me to tell my three buddies who I
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was that I was a First Nations guy that
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lived down by the water on the reserve
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and the only reason why I was proud to
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say that because I received my ancestral
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name sewn a moat that shared that we're
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late grandfather my father I invited
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them to my longhouse on the homogeneous
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in reserve to witness the 12-hour
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ceremony of me receiving my name that
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was the first time that they truly felt
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that I was a First Nations person they
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knew my culture and they knew my
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identity I look back at that experience
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now what my dad went through for seven
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years he lost his identity through
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school it for 15 months at Sutherland
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secondary school I had lost my identity
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as a First Nations person so I had to
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change that so after high school I
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became became a teacher not
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administrator and in the end I want to
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make a difference for Anouk for students
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coming forward today there are various
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people through my career as a student as
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the educators administrator made a huge
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impact on my life I had a teacher who
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taught me great night in English I had a
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teacher that was my school associate I
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had a colleague as a teacher and had now
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I have a teacher
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my colleague who's an administrator and
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that one teacher her name was Kathleen
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barter and she's the one that had the
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courage in me to take me on as a student
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as a student teacher as a colleague as a
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teacher in administrator and the will in
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the fight that she showed to me I still
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possess today because she had the
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courage to take me on as a First Nation
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student first and foremost so without a
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doubt we talked about pathways in
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education she is one that is leading the
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right path towards average education so
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she's one of my role models obviously
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without my dad my dad is one of my role
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models the lady in the middle is another
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one of my role models the Attorney
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General of Canada Jodi Wilson Reybold I
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was very lucky to work with her in 2010
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and she is a strong-willed woman who
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happens to be Aboriginal and she was the
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one that instilled courage into me to
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say what is on your mind and what is in
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your heart because in essence Aboriginal
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education is about opening your heart
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opening your mind to what Canadian
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history really is than what British
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Columbia history really is she instilled
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that on me she is definitely one of my
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role models will continue to be a role
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model and make a difference for all of
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us the other role model up there is our
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former superintendent North Vancouver
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John Lewis he recently retired last June
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he was an individual that grew up with
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many of my uncles and auntie's on the
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reserve by playing lacrosse
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he played lacrosse for North Shore
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Indians but also he allowed me when I
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became a teacher and an administrator to
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open the doors and provoke and challenge
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my fellow educators in North Vancouver
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to ensure that they indigenized their
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classrooms we have many miles to go
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without that with to achieve that but in
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the end he had the he had the heart and
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mind to open his own to make a
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difference he learned the Squamish
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language he he went into our community
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and spoke the language to our elders
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which opened the doors to our schools
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for everyone to come do so without a
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doubt without those four individuals
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that I mentioned
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we stand here today to be a positive
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influence we talked about three pathways
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of education the first pathways are
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students without a doubt we're all of
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this in the system to support our
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students students get it
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students are sponges they want to know
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their true history the local history the
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provincial history of the Canadian
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history we need we owe it to them to do
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what is right the second pathway of
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Courage and Albert Aboriginal education
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is us as educators in the room we will
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be agents of change as we move forward
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we must be willing to change our
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philosophy change our pathway on how we
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educate people because without a doubt
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we do not want history to repeat itself
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we had 150 years of atrocities towards
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indigenous people in this country we
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need to write that and do what's right
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for all Canadians and for all kids as we
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know Chief Murray sir Murray Sinclair
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said the TRC report education got us in
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this mess
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education will get us out of this mess
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so we will be the agents of change the
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third pathway is our community all of us
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in this room were generally taught to
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the Eurocentric lens we must also
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educate our community our parents our
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elders with akt that indigenous ways of
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knowing are now will now be part of the
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mainstream within our classrooms we must
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challenge ourselves to include that lens
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so our community is very important
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because all three strands must work
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together for us to be successful we
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cannot afford to leave one strand out
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and then we'll fall back down to repeat
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in history which we do not want to do
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and obviously on a personal note these
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are my two grandsons loved them dearly
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they are Mi'kmaq Mick my first nations
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from Newfoundland my stepdaughter
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married a guy from Newfoundland who's
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whose family was wiped off the face of
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the earth by the colonisation they
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recently through bloodlines received
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their status back
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so my their names are Jett and Kate the
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big man I think he's big he started
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kindergarten this year and all I want to
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see when we talk about courage and going
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forward with her
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is that his experience in school as a
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First Nations child is better than mine
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was because I know mine was better than
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my dad's so as we move forward in this
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pathway with education we always talk
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about go forward with courage because it
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will take courage for us to be
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successful in education ocf Boyd Scott
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thank you
