Friends, there really should be more of a push to back and further causes for certain groups, like the Dechinta Research and Learning Centre, especially right now when they are trying to be formally accredited with university status.
This centre is now in its third and final year of funding from the GNWT, but the doors will no doubt swing wide open for the future, with this possible new standing.
One of the reasons why education opens up so many doors, is that each person involved in your future is often someone who has done so in the past, for yourself or others.
For Dechinta, Glen Coulthard is one such person, and whose name pops up whenever Indigenous thought is seriously considered today.
Some newer direction, too, came out of a recent get-together of the brand new National Centre for Collaboration in Indigenous Education, an effort to give real voice to our native peoples.
One of the major players in this one field is my own Trent University, where I am a third-year PhD student of Indigenous Studies.
Trent in particular was already involved in the fledgling field of Native Studies almost forty years ago, making it the oldest in Canada to spearhead this venture.
Others have been the University of Arizona, the U of Alaska and the First Nations University, whose president, Mark Dockstator served as moderator for the recent Forum in Ottawa.
His wife Jennifer is also directly involved in the national organization, to include our Sahtu.
There was even a small but vocal group right from our immediate area, which included organizer Mary-Anne Neal, Laura Tutcho, Phoebe Tatti, Snowbird Kakfwi and others.
An immediate result over the last several years are two books, Dene Heroes of the Sahtu, with students picking and telling of their role models. Any permanent record such as this one will eventually find its way into the library of the future Dechinta University.
As I continue with my studies here in rural Ontario I notice certain names popping up from the past. When I was reading up on the University of Arizona I noted one of the names, Bob Thomas, of a party of two, whom I guided down the river, from Fort Providence to Inuvik, way back in the early 1970s.
This lead to my first trip to the USA, at Crow Indian Agency, in Montana and to the Indian Ecumenical Council, in Morley, Alta., all through the 70's.
Now almost half a century later, and as a residential school survivor, I also get to witness the birth of real northern education.
Mahsi, thank you.