Yellowknife (Mar 03/03) - DiAnn Blesse has been an educator for 25 years, serving as a teacher, principal, vice-principal and superintendent of schools.

Heavily involved with the Aboriginal Language and Culture program at Mildred Hall school, Blesse has been instrumental in promoting positive change in the education of aboriginal students.

Yellowknifelife: What do you like about being a teacher?

DiAnn Blesse: I like working with the kids. I like the fact that every day is different. There are new challenges and new joys as you watch kids learn to read, or learn social skills, or grow in their self-confidence.

Yellowknifelife: From an aboriginal perspective how have things in the education district changed.

DB: The Northwest Territories has the oldest teacher education program in Canada so the attempt to train aboriginal people as teachers originated in the Northwest Territories. That initiative has been part of a broader government direction for a long time. The territorial government has also been very supportive of the maintenance of aboriginal culture and language. Over the years I think we've seen the numbers of aboriginal teachers, particularly in the smaller communities, grow. The policy to develop a representative teaching force is very much in the mind of the government and the Department of Education?

Yellowknifelife: How much importance do you put on that effort of creating a representative teaching force?

DB: It's critical. Research in education shows that children need to have role models. They need to see themselves reflected in the education they are receiving. The only way to do that is for them to see teaching personnel and school personnel who come from the same background as they do.

Yellowknifelife: What do you see as the most important developments or progression in the delivery of aboriginal education over the last 10 years?

DB: Over the last 10 years we've seen more aboriginal educators in leadership position. We have a deputy minister of education who is aboriginal. We have principals, vice-principals and superintendents. In the last 10 to 15 years we are seeing broad representation throughout the system.

Yellowknifelife: What do you think that change in leadership reflects?

DB: Some of us are getting old. One of the real benefits that I have seen over the years is the support that ECE has lent to programs through the creation of Dene Kede and Inuuqatigiit and funding for aboriginal programming that's in elementary and high school. That's been a tremendous help and that has been a big change from the 1980s.

Yellowknifelife: What kind of positive changes does that reflect in the education system?

DB: It means that the education system then begins to present two stories. It begins to place the aboriginal history, language and culture along with the Euro-Canadian culture and languages.

Yellowknifelife: Why is that so important?

DB: Research in education will tell you that all children who feel a sense of belonging and ownership reflecting in their education do better academically. As you are able to increase for the aboriginal community that recognition of themselves, their history, their cultures, their sciences, their languages, their potential for learning increases. If you can create a positive learning environment for any child, then academically they are going to learn easier.

Yellowknifelife: What are the benefits to non-aboriginal students?

DB: One of the benefits to all students is they start to learn about each other. We have students from all the aboriginal groups. They've begun to learn about each other. The non-aboriginal students have more opportunity to learn about aboriginal culture.

Yellowknifelife: What kinds of comments have you heard from students in regard to aboriginal programming?

DB: The non-aboriginal students would really like to go to language and culture programs and it is our goal to eventually make that available to all students. In the same manner that aboriginal students could choose to go to French. We are leaning towards equity of access to all that sort of programming where we can learn about each other. It's not knowing your neighbour that causes people to have difficulty getting along. I think over the years learning about each other, aboriginal and non-aboriginal, we've seen a real improvement in student relationships.

Yellowknifelife: Obviously there have been some good things happening. It's not perfect yet?

DB: It's a growth process we're attempting to do something I think is relatively new in Yellowknife. It's also, for those of us who are working particularly on this project, an experience to attempt to integrate the program into a large school.

Yellowknifelife: Have you found a lot of support in the community for what you are trying to achieve?

DB: One of the most positive outcomes of the work we've been doing here is the involvement of the parents. That is the most thrilling for me. We have an aboriginal parents advisory group that discusses the issues in aboriginal education in the district. They are a very active group of parents. They are very helpful when it comes to lobbying for the program to begin here in Mildred Hall. I think they've developed relationships for the board. They certainly are very respectful and appreciate the effort the board has made over the last few years to support this initiative. It's exciting to see parents involved in change that they feel is really beneficial to their children.

Yellowknifelife: Is this a relatively new phenomenon?

DB: It's certainly new in Yellowknife. The parents' committee has been operating now for the past two years. It's critical to have that parent support.

Yellowknifelife: In the long-term, what is your ideal vision of aboriginal education in Yellowknife and across the nation?

DB: I think I will go for in Mildred Hall school. I would like to see the program continue to grow and I think it will.

Yellowknifelife: Mildred Hall has the largest aboriginal population in Yellowknife. Do you see that has a challenge? A benefit?

DB: I see it as an opportunity. I think it's an opportunity for the staff, the students, the parents here in this school to develop this connection. I want us to take what we learn in Mildred Hall school as a template so that when the time comes we can expand this program to every other school we can take the learning experiences we've had here and not reinvent the wheel. That is exciting.

Yellowknifelife: The atmosphere that currently exists in Yellowknife, how do you see that helping to preserve aboriginal culture and language? Why do you believe that is important?

DB: The preservation and the enhancement and the continuation of the aboriginal cultures and languages in the North means the survival of the people, so it is critical. Education becomes a process where we can learn about each other and I believe that we will work better together. I think it brings us back to Chief Jimmy Bruno and his belief that we need to walk in two worlds. Cultures change and adapt. That's the goal in the North, to maintain viable aboriginal cultures and languages.

Yellowknifelife: Are we at a delicate balance right now? Are we at a time where we can see cultures saved or lost?

DB: I think that very much so all over this country there are aboriginal languages and cultures that are fading. We are very conscious that having an elder pass on takes enormous information and knowledge away from the collective. The loss of language and the loss of culture doesn't benefit anyone.

One of the realities is a school on its own cannot save a language.

The most clear example of language survival initiative was with the Maori aboriginal group in New Zealand, they've just done amazing things. That whole movement came from a grass roots beginning. The power to save our languages and our cultures does rest in us as parents and educators. We need to use our languages in our homes and we need to encourage our children to learn them and we need to relearn them ourselves if we lost them.

Yellowknifelife: What is overall feeling about how things and where things are going in aboriginal education.

DB: I am quite positive at this point. We've come to a point where we have in the district parents who are committed to working on this type of initiative. We have a district administration that is very supportive along with the board. It's very exciting. The whole idea that people are beginning to work together with a direction and some goals in mind I think is the most exciting outcome of them all.