There are priorities when approaching professional and personal development. The recognition of the value and importance of personal learning is an integral part of capacity development and community planning. To ensure that our communities get the supports they need, we need to ensure that we justify what is needed. Education is of utmost importance. We need to assist our First Nations build capacity through educational initiatives that positively impact our First Nations, both young and old. Incorporating a structured approach to take control of their current situation and to plan effectively for the future.

The gathering and transfer knowledge through story telling is what our culture have done throughout history. We gather to share and teach our families and communities the ways of our people and our culture. We’ve lost part of that along the way and want to strategically to rediscover ourselves and gain that back.

Language is a means through which we communicate our culture. We retain our identities and verbalize our values and cultural practices to future generations. Our goal is to create awareness and historical learning to enhance that awareness to help build traditional capacity in our communities. Over the last decade, First Nations have been trying to find opportunities to gain traditional language and education, skills and training that reflects their culture and history. With the many agreements, temporary joint ventures and skills training for specific educational projects, we were able to create a better understanding of traditional knowledge, language development and large-scale learning incentives that gave us our chance at continued learning and we would like to keep that momentum going.

Research through many different First Nation education systems points to the high percentage of communities who have lost their language and culture. This research also shows that if there is no action plan, our languages are becoming extinct. We want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to retain their language and culture.