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Our native Land, our native land, our native our native
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our native Lane, our.
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Hello and welcome to another episode of Our Native LANDA.
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I am your host, chat As Leo. Thank you so
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much for joining me here today. Before we get started,
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I would just like to do a territory acknowledgement that
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we are happy to live, work and play on the
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lands of La Congan and Songhise Nation and all CoA
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Salors Nations across Vancouver Island. Okay, Today, I have an
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amazing guest or friend of mine who does a lot
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of things, and we're going to focus on one certain
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thing that she does here in the community is supporting
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and working with an elder literacy program. We're going to
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get into it, but first we get to know her.
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Valerie hool So nice to have you here, Hi.
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Chat is nice to be here. Thank you for having me.
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Yeah.
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Absolutely. Before we get right into it about the elder
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literacy program, let's talk about about you, your background, where
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you're from, and some of the work you do in
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the community, not only with the elder Literacy program but
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also with work at Cove.
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Okay. Great, So, my name is Valerie Hoole and I
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was born and raised in the Couchin Valley. My mom
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is from Mexico and my dad is French Canadian, so
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I've got a little bit of a mix going on there.
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But yeah, born and raised in the Couchin Valley and
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living here in Victoria now for well over twenty years.
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I have a background in theater and I yeah, so
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I have two jobs that I work with right now
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in the community. So I work with Orca Cove Media,
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which is an Indigenous local film production company, and then
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I also work with the Literacy Circle, which is what
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we're here to talk about today.
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Yeah. Absolutely, Now let's talk about the Elder Literacy Circle.
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So I had an opportunity to go and visit the
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Elder Literacy Circle before doing this interview with you, and
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let's go right back to the origins of when it
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first started and why you saw the need for this
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type of program to help elders when it comes to
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reading and learning and writing.
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Great, Okay, So the Literacy Circle started in twenty twenty one,
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so I was not with the organization at that time,
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but some elders in the community of Nanaimo approached some
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of our now board members because they were looking to
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find support for literacy they wanted to improve their literacy,
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and they couldn't really find anything that was targeted towards elders.
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There was a lot of support for maybe young adults
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or school age children, and so that's how it began.
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So then it was started in twenty twenty one in
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Nanaimo and then our now board members kind of got
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the program up and running and we have a lovely
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mix of Indigenous and non Indigenous board members and we
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work together with the guidance from our Indigenous elders to
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develop the program.
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And let's talk about the reason why this need to
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happen besides the fact that there was elders approaching board,
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Memboris and yourself saying like, we need something like this
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just for people that might not understand. You know, when
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a lot of you know, Indigenous elders and Indigenous people
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that have gone through the residential school system, a lot
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of them graduated if they graduated with you know, maybe
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the reading and learning capacity of like a kindergartener grade
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one student and never got the proper education because of
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a lot of other factors that took place in that school.
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So how does that limitation bring us to this moment
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where they needed that education, I mean, or wanted.
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The ongoing effects of what went on in residential and
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dase schools is still prevalent today. We're seeing it multi generationally, right,
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So I think the elders who did experience being in
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those schools you're right, left those schools maybe with not
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a broad a proper education and a lot of trauma
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related to experiences in traditional classroom settings. And so yeah,
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that's a challenge, right, And so that's why with the
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Literacy Circle, we're really working on kind of decolonializing that
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experience and creating a safe space that is led by
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the learners and just really supporting them. And it's an
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equal it's an equal learning situation there, right, So it's
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not just the teachers teaching, it's actually the teachers learning
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just as much from the learners themselves.
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Well, that's really good to hear that there's now a
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bit of that accessibility for elders. So, as you said,
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Nanaimo has built itself up. It's doing quite well, and
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the program in Victoria is a bit new York Can
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you tell me newer? Sorry, can you tell me how
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that's going so far?
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Yeah, And so, like I said earlier in Nanaimo started
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in twenty twenty one. We were able to start a
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class in Victoria in February of twenty twenty four, so
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that was that's a newer class. The adults, the multigenerational
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adults that showed up in Victoria were starting at a
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slightly higher level of education, and so the focus in
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Victoria has been on storytelling as a ways to improve literacy,
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and it's going really well. I think in both classes too.
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Having the learners be given the opportunity to tell their
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stories and kind of learn how to share them in
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maybe in a written form has been really empowering for them, right,
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So we were able to at the end of this
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last term Victoria, the learners were able to select pieces
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that they'd been working on throughout the year and we
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bound them. We printed and bound them. They wrote authors
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bios and had pictures, and they were able to take
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those home and share them with their families and friends
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and community members. And so it's also a way of
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building legacy, right telling their history, their stories, their personal
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experiences and sharing them with the community.
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That's really powerful and I can only imagine sort of
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how they feel as they improve over time. I know
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I saw one clip on the website there and there
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was like one elder saying, you know, I just started
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here at a grade one level. Now I'm at a
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grade three level, and she's super proud of herself. And
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we're definitely going to get a chance to see and
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meet some of those elders. But we're just going to
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take a quick break. Don't go anywhere. We're going to
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keep talking about the other literacy program. Here will be back. Hi,
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welcome back to our native land. I'm your host, chattis Leal,
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and we're here with Valor hul who is the executive
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director of the Elder Literacy Program. Now we're going to
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get to some clips with some elders because I really
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want to hear from them. But let's talk about the
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class structure first.
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What does that look like.
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So it's weekly. We meet once a week and usually
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from September all the way through to June, we do
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three semesters. And the first hour of class is lunch.
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So we meet, we get together and we just share
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a meal and talk and connect. And that's a really
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important part of just kind of you know, creating that
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space and just building that trust in the relationships with everyone. Altogether,
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the teachers and the learners. We're very lucky that we
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have a sponsorship with Country Grocer in Victoria and Anamo
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and so they do provide lunches weekly for us. And
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then after that that first hour of lunch, we transition
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into the learning component and that's the last two hours.
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So it's three hours total every week, and we have
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two teachers in each class and the elders are divided
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up into smaller pods. Then get you more attention and
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support based on their different levels of literacy.
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That's amazing. It sounds like a nice respectful way to
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go about it. Get your lunch as we traditionally do,
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kind of sit around, have a chance to get to
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know each other, and then move on to sort of
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the more serious work. It seems really lightning for them,
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and I want to get to listening to them as
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well too. So I had an opportunity, i'll say earlier
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to go and meet some of the Nanaimo elders and
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learn how they're developing their skills and their literacy capabilities
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and education all of the good stuff that comes with
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a classroom in a positive, non cohonial way for them
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to adjust. So have a look I was in an
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imo talking to these elders. I think you're going to
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love them.
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Check it out Instagroundbreaking Alice Shaughnessy referring to a humble
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but mighty literacy course tucked away inside the public library
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across from Tillicam Mall.
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There's always something to do, and we can be creative
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like I write songs, other people write poems, other people
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who write stories.
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This is the literacy circle. Well, don't welcoming to everyone.
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It's targeted toward Indigenous elders and adults, residential and day
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school survivors here to learn English literacy skills in a
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supportive and safe environment. What are some of the challenges
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that elders would face when it comes to literacy.
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So the ongoing effects of residential school systems and day schools,
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and we were looking at just kind of ways to
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be honoring the elders and being respectful for the history
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that they had with traditional school settings.
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Many residential school survivors came out of the school system
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with little to no reading and writing skills, and this
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circle is designed to change that.
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There was a lot of elders who left those programs
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without adequate education and lots of stigma attached with that,
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lots of trauma as well.
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Circles are held both in Nanaimo and now Victoria for
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elders showing up every week. The results are life changing.
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My mind started to wake up.
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I started to work at it.
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My taser was great, she is great. She was patient.
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Now I'm in a second grade, I can read a little.
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I joined his school and I loved school.
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Is good for your.
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Brain and people should come learn more.
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For one elder student, the opportunity to learn math properly
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is changing her life in real time.
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Right now, I'm having her time in taxis to give
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them twenty and I noticed when my thing me there
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are six dollars and I'm not getting a proper change back.
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So that's when I'm stuck in my math, and I
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want to show them that they're ripping me off.
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The circle varies in size week to week, but students
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are always showing up, inspired by elders and trying their best.
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I do a lot of writing. Obviously, my writing's not legible,
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and sometimes I'm not really great at spelling, and I'm dyslexic,
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but I'm still doing it.
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The literacy circle runs from September to June. Registration can
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be made online at the Literacy Circle dot Ca. Can
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you tell me what intrigues you about the Literacy Circle?
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It is fun to learn and listen, and you have
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fun at lunch and talk. Tell the story. I tell
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a funny story, the joke silly and that I really
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enjoy with all those people. My name for Luita shaw
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I came from.
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Can you tell me what intrigues you about the Literacy Circle?
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I understand you like math a lot, maybe even a
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little bit more than reading.
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Tell me why I like Matt because I want to
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learn the numbers divided the time and equal.
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Can't say the word, and it's fun for me to
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learn to all the numbers. And I really joined my school.
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It is fun to learn and listen. Learned math, reading, spelling,
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pronounce the word to teach me to say the right word.
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It's good for me to learn pre things so I
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can learn, you know, because I like school. It keep
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me busy and keep your minds on you focus and
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now stay home because it's too boring at home. In school,
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I like it is to meet all this student, student
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teacher learn everything. But I want to read more, to
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learn more words, because whenever I read read, read, I
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tin get someone behind me and you say, I can't
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pronounce the words, so she helped me pronounce It's okay.
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Then I read It's good for a reading for me,
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and I love him. Meet all this student teacher groups.
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You know, you have fun. I had lunch and talk
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tell the story. I tell a funny story, the joke silly,
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and that. I really joy with all those people because
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there are my family, because I feel closer to them
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and I feel safe say save with them all.
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Wow, that was so exciting to be out there in Anaheimo,
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and especially Louisa. What a character she is.
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Hey, yeah, it really you know, the learners are amazing.
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They really really are. It takes a great deal of
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courage to be able to kind of make that choice
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to to you know, change the patterns, change history. And
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I just feel very lucky that we get to spend
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so much time with them and just really you know,
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learn from them.
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Yeah, what do you think, Like, I know you can't
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speak for them about that at the end of the class,
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Like what are the what are some of the emotional
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aspects that you see out of the elders, Like they
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what are they going through because it's not easy to
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talk about the past and why you're there and why
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you're trying to.
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Improve, right, Yeah, Well, we've had a lot of feedback
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from our learners over the semesters and so they have
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given us written feedback and shared how they feel, and
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so we do. You know, we've had elders share that
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it's an amazing to be able to kind of come
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to a place weekly, feel like you belong, feel like
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you're improving yourself, and connect with other learners and be
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inspired by each other as well, right yeah, and knowing
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that they're not alone in their experiences.
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And are you always trying to expand that amount of
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you know, elders in the classroom. Is there always that
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opportunity to grow or are you trying to keep it small?
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Oh? Well no, I mean ideally we want to be
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able to offer it to as many people who are interested. Right,
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So we don't have a definitive start time. So even
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if you missed the first day of September, just come anytime. Right,
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Everyone's welcome whenever they can. And we understand people have
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family commitments, they've got you know, often health issues or
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mobility issues. It's not always easy to get there every week,
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and so just come whenever you can and just you know,
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do what you can.
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I said, everyone's welcome, so not just Indigenous elders. It
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can be anything.
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It is.
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It is programmed, we do. Yes, it's the focus is
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Indigenous elders and multi generational survivors.
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Okay, yeah, fantastic. Yeah, well, thank you value. We're going
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to get into more about how it's funded and how
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this all works, but we're going to take a short break.
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Please don't go anywhere.
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We'll be right back.
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Hi, and welcome back to our native land. I'm here
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at Valerie Whoul and we've been talking about the elder
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Literacy program. We're getting to know all about the program.
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We've met some of the elders in and IMO. Now
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I want to get to sort of the more You
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mentioned the class structure, but let's talk about more about
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the organizational structure. You have volunteers, this is nonprofit, so
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how do we function in this way to make sure
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that it's properly fun for education. You mentioned country grocers,
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so they're get to understand that structure and maybe the
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successes and challenges of it.
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Yeah. So we've had a tremendous community support right from
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the get go. I think a lot of people when
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we talk about reconciliation, they kind of feel helpless, like
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what can I do? What can I do to actively
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support the process of reconciliation and move forward. And so
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we've been very, very lucky that we had in Anaimo,
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the Vancouver Island Conference Center provides a space for the
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classes every week. It's beautiful. It's accessible here in Victoria
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the Centennial Branch of the Greater Victoria Library. It provides
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a room every week, which is fantastic. Country Grocer provides
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the lunches weekly in Victoria and Nanaimo. Ac Taxi delivers
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the lunches in Nanaimo. Allegra Printing has done printing and
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posters and flyers to help us get the word out.
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And we are registered nonprofit, so we rely on funding.
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We've been lucky to have funding from the Victoria Foundation,
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the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund, BC Gaming, the City of Nanaimo,
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Fuey Foundation, and of course individual donors will rely on
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as well.
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So yeah, so it sounds like a lot of the
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community is coming here to support this. Now, do we
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feel like there's maybe a gap in like, are you
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hoping for provincials support or federal support to kind of
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to maybe amplify this and make it bigger? Are you
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really relying on this as sort of the stage route,
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like is this supposed to grow in any way besides Victorian,
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I mean, the.
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Goal is to expand to as many communities where it's
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needed and where there's interests. We are in conversations with
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Couch and Valley to see about opening up a class
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there and the Vancouverland Conference Center. The company that owns
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it ovo is they've offered us classroom space in all
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fourteen of their conference centers across the province. So you know,
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that's the big dream, but we are we're still a
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baby nonprofit, right so we will to make sure that
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we're we've got the infrastructure, the support's in place before
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we we start to expand. But it's exciting, right, I
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think the potential is there and who knows, maybe one
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day across Canada.
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So I want to before we get to sort of
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how you know, viewers and listeners can help you. We'll
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save that for the end, but I want to kind
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of roll back because you said residential school survivors an
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intergenerational ones, so people that have may have not gone
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to residential school but have suffered from the effects of it.
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You know, there is there maybe a reluctancy where people
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might feel, you know, shy or nervous or maybe I
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don't want to put words in their mouth, but maybe
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feel a little bit embarrassed or self conscious that they
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don't have that reading or learning see, like, are you
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finding trouble bringing in those as well, or like is
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there any difficulty in finding or building that trust to
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bring them in or you generally feel like what you
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have structured is just an open door and they're walking through.
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I mean, I feel like we're it's an active learning
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experience for all of us, right, So we are just
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trying to be out there in community and build those
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relationships and build trusts because that's I think the starting
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point first and foremost, and so that just that part
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of the work is never done, right, it's ongoing, it's continuous,
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and so yeah, well we do have learners. I would
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love to see more in the classroom, and just yeah,
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we're just going to continue to do that work.
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That's amazing to bring more.
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People in and get the word out and so thank
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you for having us here because this is hopefully going
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to help, right.
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Yeah, absolutely, yeah, And like I find like you're mentioned
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about the expanded Couchin. I mean, I'm just calm to myself,
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but there, you know, Couchin tribe is like one of
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the largest tribes in the province. There have you heard,
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you know a bit of conversation with people in couch
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And where like you think that need would be great
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there as well too.
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Yeah, so we have we have an Indigenous board member
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who is is based in Couchin and she has said
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that yes, there's definite need and interest and so we
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are just in those preliminary conversations of how that might
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work and yeah, maybe steps.
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And I also find it quite quite interesting. And I
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want to focus on sort of the end products because
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you talked a bit earlier too about how they have
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been working on these little pamphlets or booklets to bring
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home to show the community how important it is. Do
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you think for them to be able to go back
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and show the work that they're doing, because I think
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a lot, especially every Indigenous people, we tend to just
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go and leave and we don't share any you know,
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it's just hard to share our work. But do you
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find that some of those others that go back in
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the community or maybe showing their work and trying to
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maybe bring other elders into is that kind of part
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of I don't want to say strategy, but is it
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part of sort of the structure and like let's let's
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work with one elder at time and see if they
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bring more in there.
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Yeah, I mean I wouldn't even call that strategy. I
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think it's just natural progression of the program, right because
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it's changing the narrative of what having an education or
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you know, reading and writing is all about. And so yeah, yeah,
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I think it's just happening organically that learners who are
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having a positive experience with the Literacy Circle are then
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talking about it in community and sharing it with others
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and maybe you know, getting community members to think differently
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about it. And yeah, that's amazing.
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Yeah. We almost out of time, but I want to
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spend the last minute here just for again vieers unlessers
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watching that want to be one of those individual donors
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to help the literacy program. Can you tell them how
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they be able to do that?
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Yeah.
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So our website is the Literacycircle dot ca and on
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the top right corner. There is a donate button and yeah,
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you get a tax receipt for donations over twenty five dollars,
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but all funds go to support the program, to keep
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it running, to keep it growing, and hopefully, yeah, it'll
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have a long future ahead.
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That's amazing. Yeah, I really hope it's successful. It sounds
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like it is, and what a dream m would be
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to have a bunch eventually, right, But you know, one
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thing at a time, right, And it sounds like you're
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doing it in a good way. And I'm really happy
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and grateful that you spent some time here with me
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today to explain the program and trying to help those
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elders that really want to learn.
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Yes, thank you. We're really honored and just thankful to
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have the support and the input from our indigenous advisors.
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So yeah, absolutely, well, thank you, Valarie. I really appreciate
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and thank you you the viewer and the listener for
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once again listening or watching an episode of Our Native
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Land if you hadn't had a chance, and you go
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back and see all the other seasons if you want
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to catch up with what we've been doing for the
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past couple of years. Thank you so much, once again,
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and we'll see you next time here on our native
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lant
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Nik
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Our native Land, our native land, our native our native
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our native Lane, our.
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Hello and welcome to another episode of Our Native LANDA.
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I am your host, chat As Leo. Thank you so
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much for joining me here today. Before we get started,
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I would just like to do a territory acknowledgement that
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we are happy to live, work and play on the
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lands of La Congan and Songhise Nation and all CoA
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Salors Nations across Vancouver Island. Okay, Today, I have an
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amazing guest or friend of mine who does a lot
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of things, and we're going to focus on one certain
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thing that she does here in the community is supporting
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and working with an elder literacy program. We're going to
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get into it, but first we get to know her.
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Valerie hool So nice to have you here, Hi.
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Chat is nice to be here. Thank you for having me.
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Yeah.
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Absolutely. Before we get right into it about the elder
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literacy program, let's talk about about you, your background, where
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you're from, and some of the work you do in
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the community, not only with the elder Literacy program but
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also with work at Cove.
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Okay. Great, So, my name is Valerie Hoole and I
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was born and raised in the Couchin Valley. My mom
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is from Mexico and my dad is French Canadian, so
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I've got a little bit of a mix going on there.
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But yeah, born and raised in the Couchin Valley and
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living here in Victoria now for well over twenty years.
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I have a background in theater and I yeah, so
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I have two jobs that I work with right now
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in the community. So I work with Orca Cove Media,
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which is an Indigenous local film production company, and then
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I also work with the Literacy Circle, which is what
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we're here to talk about today.
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Yeah. Absolutely, Now let's talk about the Elder Literacy Circle.
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So I had an opportunity to go and visit the
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Elder Literacy Circle before doing this interview with you, and
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let's go right back to the origins of when it
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first started and why you saw the need for this
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type of program to help elders when it comes to
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reading and learning and writing.
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Great, Okay, So the Literacy Circle started in twenty twenty one,
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so I was not with the organization at that time,
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but some elders in the community of Nanaimo approached some
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of our now board members because they were looking to
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find support for literacy they wanted to improve their literacy,
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and they couldn't really find anything that was targeted towards elders.
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There was a lot of support for maybe young adults
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or school age children, and so that's how it began.
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So then it was started in twenty twenty one in
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Nanaimo and then our now board members kind of got
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the program up and running and we have a lovely
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mix of Indigenous and non Indigenous board members and we
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work together with the guidance from our Indigenous elders to
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develop the program.
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And let's talk about the reason why this need to
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happen besides the fact that there was elders approaching board,
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Memboris and yourself saying like, we need something like this
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just for people that might not understand. You know, when
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a lot of you know, Indigenous elders and Indigenous people
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that have gone through the residential school system, a lot
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of them graduated if they graduated with you know, maybe
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the reading and learning capacity of like a kindergartener grade
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one student and never got the proper education because of
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a lot of other factors that took place in that school.
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So how does that limitation bring us to this moment
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where they needed that education, I mean, or wanted.
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The ongoing effects of what went on in residential and
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dase schools is still prevalent today. We're seeing it multi generationally, right,
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So I think the elders who did experience being in
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those schools you're right, left those schools maybe with not
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a broad a proper education and a lot of trauma
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related to experiences in traditional classroom settings. And so yeah,
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that's a challenge, right, And so that's why with the
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Literacy Circle, we're really working on kind of decolonializing that
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experience and creating a safe space that is led by
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the learners and just really supporting them. And it's an
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equal it's an equal learning situation there, right, So it's
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not just the teachers teaching, it's actually the teachers learning
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just as much from the learners themselves.
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Well, that's really good to hear that there's now a
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bit of that accessibility for elders. So, as you said,
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Nanaimo has built itself up. It's doing quite well, and
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the program in Victoria is a bit new York Can
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you tell me newer? Sorry, can you tell me how
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that's going so far?
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Yeah, And so, like I said earlier in Nanaimo started
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in twenty twenty one. We were able to start a
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class in Victoria in February of twenty twenty four, so
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that was that's a newer class. The adults, the multigenerational
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adults that showed up in Victoria were starting at a
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slightly higher level of education, and so the focus in
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Victoria has been on storytelling as a ways to improve literacy,
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and it's going really well. I think in both classes too.
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Having the learners be given the opportunity to tell their
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stories and kind of learn how to share them in
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maybe in a written form has been really empowering for them, right,
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So we were able to at the end of this
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last term Victoria, the learners were able to select pieces
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that they'd been working on throughout the year and we
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bound them. We printed and bound them. They wrote authors
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bios and had pictures, and they were able to take
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those home and share them with their families and friends
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and community members. And so it's also a way of
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building legacy, right telling their history, their stories, their personal
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experiences and sharing them with the community.
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That's really powerful and I can only imagine sort of
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how they feel as they improve over time. I know
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I saw one clip on the website there and there
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was like one elder saying, you know, I just started
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here at a grade one level. Now I'm at a
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grade three level, and she's super proud of herself. And
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we're definitely going to get a chance to see and
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meet some of those elders. But we're just going to
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take a quick break. Don't go anywhere. We're going to
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keep talking about the other literacy program. Here will be back. Hi,
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welcome back to our native land. I'm your host, chattis Leal,
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and we're here with Valor hul who is the executive
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director of the Elder Literacy Program. Now we're going to
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get to some clips with some elders because I really
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want to hear from them. But let's talk about the
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class structure first.
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What does that look like.
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So it's weekly. We meet once a week and usually
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from September all the way through to June, we do
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three semesters. And the first hour of class is lunch.
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So we meet, we get together and we just share
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a meal and talk and connect. And that's a really
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important part of just kind of you know, creating that
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space and just building that trust in the relationships with everyone. Altogether,
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the teachers and the learners. We're very lucky that we
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have a sponsorship with Country Grocer in Victoria and Anamo
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and so they do provide lunches weekly for us. And
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then after that that first hour of lunch, we transition
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into the learning component and that's the last two hours.
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So it's three hours total every week, and we have
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two teachers in each class and the elders are divided
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up into smaller pods. Then get you more attention and
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support based on their different levels of literacy.
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That's amazing. It sounds like a nice respectful way to
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go about it. Get your lunch as we traditionally do,
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kind of sit around, have a chance to get to
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know each other, and then move on to sort of
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the more serious work. It seems really lightning for them,
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and I want to get to listening to them as
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well too. So I had an opportunity, i'll say earlier
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to go and meet some of the Nanaimo elders and
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learn how they're developing their skills and their literacy capabilities
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and education all of the good stuff that comes with
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a classroom in a positive, non cohonial way for them
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to adjust. So have a look I was in an
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imo talking to these elders. I think you're going to
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love them.
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Check it out Instagroundbreaking Alice Shaughnessy referring to a humble
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but mighty literacy course tucked away inside the public library
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across from Tillicam Mall.
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There's always something to do, and we can be creative
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like I write songs, other people write poems, other people
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who write stories.
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This is the literacy circle. Well, don't welcoming to everyone.
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It's targeted toward Indigenous elders and adults, residential and day
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school survivors here to learn English literacy skills in a
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supportive and safe environment. What are some of the challenges
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that elders would face when it comes to literacy.
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So the ongoing effects of residential school systems and day schools,
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and we were looking at just kind of ways to
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be honoring the elders and being respectful for the history
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that they had with traditional school settings.
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Many residential school survivors came out of the school system
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with little to no reading and writing skills, and this
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circle is designed to change that.
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There was a lot of elders who left those programs
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without adequate education and lots of stigma attached with that,
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lots of trauma as well.
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Circles are held both in Nanaimo and now Victoria for
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elders showing up every week. The results are life changing.
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My mind started to wake up.
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I started to work at it.
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My taser was great, she is great. She was patient.
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Now I'm in a second grade, I can read a little.
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I joined his school and I loved school.
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Is good for your.
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Brain and people should come learn more.
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For one elder student, the opportunity to learn math properly
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is changing her life in real time.
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Right now, I'm having her time in taxis to give
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them twenty and I noticed when my thing me there
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are six dollars and I'm not getting a proper change back.
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So that's when I'm stuck in my math, and I
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want to show them that they're ripping me off.
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The circle varies in size week to week, but students
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are always showing up, inspired by elders and trying their best.
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I do a lot of writing. Obviously, my writing's not legible,
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and sometimes I'm not really great at spelling, and I'm dyslexic,
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but I'm still doing it.
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The literacy circle runs from September to June. Registration can
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be made online at the Literacy Circle dot Ca. Can
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you tell me what intrigues you about the Literacy Circle?
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It is fun to learn and listen, and you have
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fun at lunch and talk. Tell the story. I tell
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a funny story, the joke silly and that I really
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enjoy with all those people. My name for Luita shaw
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I came from.
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Can you tell me what intrigues you about the Literacy Circle?
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I understand you like math a lot, maybe even a
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little bit more than reading.
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Tell me why I like Matt because I want to
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learn the numbers divided the time and equal.
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Can't say the word, and it's fun for me to
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learn to all the numbers. And I really joined my school.
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It is fun to learn and listen. Learned math, reading, spelling,
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pronounce the word to teach me to say the right word.
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It's good for me to learn pre things so I
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can learn, you know, because I like school. It keep
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me busy and keep your minds on you focus and
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now stay home because it's too boring at home. In school,
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I like it is to meet all this student, student
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teacher learn everything. But I want to read more, to
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learn more words, because whenever I read read, read, I
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tin get someone behind me and you say, I can't
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pronounce the words, so she helped me pronounce It's okay.
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Then I read It's good for a reading for me,
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and I love him. Meet all this student teacher groups.
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You know, you have fun. I had lunch and talk
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tell the story. I tell a funny story, the joke silly,
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and that. I really joy with all those people because
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there are my family, because I feel closer to them
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and I feel safe say save with them all.
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Wow, that was so exciting to be out there in Anaheimo,
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and especially Louisa. What a character she is.
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Hey, yeah, it really you know, the learners are amazing.
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They really really are. It takes a great deal of
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courage to be able to kind of make that choice
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to to you know, change the patterns, change history. And
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I just feel very lucky that we get to spend
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so much time with them and just really you know,
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learn from them.
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Yeah, what do you think, Like, I know you can't
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speak for them about that at the end of the class,
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Like what are the what are some of the emotional
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aspects that you see out of the elders, Like they
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what are they going through because it's not easy to
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talk about the past and why you're there and why
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you're trying to.
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Improve, right, Yeah, Well, we've had a lot of feedback
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from our learners over the semesters and so they have
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given us written feedback and shared how they feel, and
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so we do. You know, we've had elders share that
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it's an amazing to be able to kind of come
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to a place weekly, feel like you belong, feel like
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you're improving yourself, and connect with other learners and be
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inspired by each other as well, right yeah, and knowing
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that they're not alone in their experiences.
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And are you always trying to expand that amount of
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you know, elders in the classroom. Is there always that
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opportunity to grow or are you trying to keep it small?
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Oh? Well no, I mean ideally we want to be
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able to offer it to as many people who are interested. Right,
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So we don't have a definitive start time. So even
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if you missed the first day of September, just come anytime. Right,
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Everyone's welcome whenever they can. And we understand people have
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family commitments, they've got you know, often health issues or
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mobility issues. It's not always easy to get there every week,
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and so just come whenever you can and just you know,
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do what you can.
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I said, everyone's welcome, so not just Indigenous elders. It
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can be anything.
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It is.
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It is programmed, we do. Yes, it's the focus is
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Indigenous elders and multi generational survivors.
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Okay, yeah, fantastic. Yeah, well, thank you value. We're going
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to get into more about how it's funded and how
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this all works, but we're going to take a short break.
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Please don't go anywhere.
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We'll be right back.
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Hi, and welcome back to our native land. I'm here
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at Valerie Whoul and we've been talking about the elder
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Literacy program. We're getting to know all about the program.
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We've met some of the elders in and IMO. Now
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I want to get to sort of the more You
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mentioned the class structure, but let's talk about more about
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the organizational structure. You have volunteers, this is nonprofit, so
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how do we function in this way to make sure
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that it's properly fun for education. You mentioned country grocers,
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so they're get to understand that structure and maybe the
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successes and challenges of it.
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Yeah. So we've had a tremendous community support right from
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the get go. I think a lot of people when
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we talk about reconciliation, they kind of feel helpless, like
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what can I do? What can I do to actively
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support the process of reconciliation and move forward. And so
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we've been very, very lucky that we had in Anaimo,
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the Vancouver Island Conference Center provides a space for the
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classes every week. It's beautiful. It's accessible here in Victoria
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the Centennial Branch of the Greater Victoria Library. It provides
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a room every week, which is fantastic. Country Grocer provides
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the lunches weekly in Victoria and Nanaimo. Ac Taxi delivers
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the lunches in Nanaimo. Allegra Printing has done printing and
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posters and flyers to help us get the word out.
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And we are registered nonprofit, so we rely on funding.
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We've been lucky to have funding from the Victoria Foundation,
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the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund, BC Gaming, the City of Nanaimo,
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Fuey Foundation, and of course individual donors will rely on
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as well.
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So yeah, so it sounds like a lot of the
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community is coming here to support this. Now, do we
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feel like there's maybe a gap in like, are you
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hoping for provincials support or federal support to kind of
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to maybe amplify this and make it bigger? Are you
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really relying on this as sort of the stage route,
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like is this supposed to grow in any way besides Victorian,
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I mean, the.
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Goal is to expand to as many communities where it's
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needed and where there's interests. We are in conversations with
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Couch and Valley to see about opening up a class
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there and the Vancouverland Conference Center. The company that owns
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it ovo is they've offered us classroom space in all
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fourteen of their conference centers across the province. So you know,
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that's the big dream, but we are we're still a
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baby nonprofit, right so we will to make sure that
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we're we've got the infrastructure, the support's in place before
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we we start to expand. But it's exciting, right, I
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think the potential is there and who knows, maybe one
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day across Canada.
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So I want to before we get to sort of
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how you know, viewers and listeners can help you. We'll
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save that for the end, but I want to kind
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of roll back because you said residential school survivors an
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intergenerational ones, so people that have may have not gone
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to residential school but have suffered from the effects of it.
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You know, there is there maybe a reluctancy where people
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might feel, you know, shy or nervous or maybe I
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don't want to put words in their mouth, but maybe
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feel a little bit embarrassed or self conscious that they
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don't have that reading or learning see, like, are you
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finding trouble bringing in those as well, or like is
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there any difficulty in finding or building that trust to
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bring them in or you generally feel like what you
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have structured is just an open door and they're walking through.
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I mean, I feel like we're it's an active learning
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experience for all of us, right, So we are just
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trying to be out there in community and build those
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relationships and build trusts because that's I think the starting
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point first and foremost, and so that just that part
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of the work is never done, right, it's ongoing, it's continuous,
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and so yeah, well we do have learners. I would
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love to see more in the classroom, and just yeah,
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we're just going to continue to do that work.
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That's amazing to bring more.
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People in and get the word out and so thank
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you for having us here because this is hopefully going
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to help, right.
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Yeah, absolutely, yeah, And like I find like you're mentioned
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about the expanded Couchin. I mean, I'm just calm to myself,
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but there, you know, Couchin tribe is like one of
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the largest tribes in the province. There have you heard,
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you know a bit of conversation with people in couch
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And where like you think that need would be great
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there as well too.
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Yeah, so we have we have an Indigenous board member
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who is is based in Couchin and she has said
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that yes, there's definite need and interest and so we
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are just in those preliminary conversations of how that might
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work and yeah, maybe steps.
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And I also find it quite quite interesting. And I
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want to focus on sort of the end products because
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you talked a bit earlier too about how they have
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been working on these little pamphlets or booklets to bring
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home to show the community how important it is. Do
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you think for them to be able to go back
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and show the work that they're doing, because I think
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a lot, especially every Indigenous people, we tend to just
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go and leave and we don't share any you know,
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it's just hard to share our work. But do you
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find that some of those others that go back in
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the community or maybe showing their work and trying to
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maybe bring other elders into is that kind of part
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of I don't want to say strategy, but is it
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part of sort of the structure and like let's let's
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work with one elder at time and see if they
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bring more in there.
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Yeah, I mean I wouldn't even call that strategy. I
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think it's just natural progression of the program, right because
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it's changing the narrative of what having an education or
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you know, reading and writing is all about. And so yeah, yeah,
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I think it's just happening organically that learners who are
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having a positive experience with the Literacy Circle are then
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talking about it in community and sharing it with others
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and maybe you know, getting community members to think differently
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about it. And yeah, that's amazing.
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Yeah. We almost out of time, but I want to
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spend the last minute here just for again vieers unlessers
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watching that want to be one of those individual donors
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to help the literacy program. Can you tell them how
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they be able to do that?
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Yeah.
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So our website is the Literacycircle dot ca and on
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the top right corner. There is a donate button and yeah,
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you get a tax receipt for donations over twenty five dollars,
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but all funds go to support the program, to keep
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it running, to keep it growing, and hopefully, yeah, it'll
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have a long future ahead.
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That's amazing. Yeah, I really hope it's successful. It sounds
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like it is, and what a dream m would be
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to have a bunch eventually, right, But you know, one
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thing at a time, right, And it sounds like you're
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doing it in a good way. And I'm really happy
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and grateful that you spent some time here with me
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today to explain the program and trying to help those
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elders that really want to learn.
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Yes, thank you. We're really honored and just thankful to
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have the support and the input from our indigenous advisors.
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So yeah, absolutely, well, thank you, Valarie. I really appreciate
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and thank you you the viewer and the listener for
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once again listening or watching an episode of Our Native
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Land if you hadn't had a chance, and you go
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back and see all the other seasons if you want
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to catch up with what we've been doing for the
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past couple of years. Thank you so much, once again,
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and we'll see you next time here on our native
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lant
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Nik
