Bois Forte Culture Preservation

We have been able to host 3 successful events and 2 "unsuccessful" events. The difference between the who would be during the 2 that weren't successful, we had 1 or fewer participants who didn't want to record without other people there. The successful ones had multiple people available and people who were able to be recorded. We covered a variety of topics that we were hoping to document at the beginning that will either need additional information on.

One significant outcome is seeing the toll of trauma, either historical or first hand that has come into play. Either people being not willing to talk about topics or not having too much knowledge on them. We have been able to cover most topics that has been brought up except for a few times where it was stated that "you might have to wait on that topic because people may still be recovering from that" or "I don't know how comfortable people are with sharing information about that". To a certain extent, we were able to document where the line might be or what specific issues came up in the past that has led us to our current situation.

I believe the only change to our plan currently is moving some to recordings in both Nett Lake and Vermilion rather than all together since we weren't able to get a signed document until the end of October and budget set up until December.; MEASURABLE OUTCOMES: I wasn't able to edit on the Proposed Measurable Outcomes - We were able to have 12 recorded meetings of video and/or audio. We also have updated maps to reference with new or updated locations for areas that have cultural importance. Topics that were covered were the following, general/important events in Bois Forte history, foods and medicines, recreational activities and past tribal enterprises. Cultural teachings including, animal messages, helpers, and clan systems.

The best indirect outcome that came from this program was providing a consistent spot for community elders to get together and look forward to participating in and building the relationship back up with the tribal government. We were able to have a total of 12 meetings with 6 meetings happening in each Nett Lake and Vermilion. This has helped to talk about the experiences and events that happened for the Bois Forte community and can provide insight into our history and culture that has changed in the recent past.

There were a lot of things that not only will provide new data for our cultural resource team to utilize, insight into different cultural practices that should be brought back, and guide our programs to how to operate. This has greatly increased the tribal government's relationship with our elders to be able to work together. Before this project, there was a huge disconnect and often times would get little to no response whenever the tribal council would ask for the opinion of the elders.

Although we weren't able to observe as much language and culture as we anticipated, it does go to show the effects of the more recent assimilation tactics that have been forced upon us. It has showed how quickly the language was lost but also how, and partially, why the culture survived. It can show how quickly the language and culture can change and also provide some insight as to how much of a long road it will be to start moving back towards that. As an example, most of the elders now remember a time when their parents or grandparents would only speak Ojibwe between one another but decided to not share that knowledge with them. Now we're in a spot where they wished that people knew how to even just greet other people in the language.

Again, we weren't able to accomplish all of the goals set out since out, in terms of language revitalization because there wasn't a lot of participants who were fluent in the language. But we were able to grow a relationship with our elders to the point where we are have been able to ask about more important topics to our community. We were able to achieve the goals we set out for ourselves to the best of our ability and it does provide the community with a jumping off point for future programs. This is measured through the recorded meetings, updated cultural locations lists, and vastly improved relationship with our elders.

There hasn't been any changes since the interim report.