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Education conference in Hamilton (Continued from front page) yard bullying. He focuses on educating teachers and students to recognize the indicators of violence and be aware of their place in the solution. Van Allen advised that a police presence in schools is beneficial, "I think its positive for the police service and the school itself." Van Allen presents school safety seminars at local area schools and visited Six Nations' elementary school last summer. Teachers and students who attended this seminar found the information relevant and current. Shirley Joshua, aboriginal counsellor at Niagara College, enjoyed the presentation and agreed that police presence is important in schools, "We have lots of police presence in our school. They let the students know they're there and they're not going to get away with anything." Joshua believes it is important because students feel safe knowing that police are enforcing the law, "I want my daughter to feel safe when she's at school. I want her to feel like it's not acceptable for someone who is doing illegal activities to be able to get away with it, that the police are going to come and search their locker and take them out of the school." Jennifer Micallef, student at Niagara College, found the seminar on school violence relevant, "Schools need to be safe and secure in order to provide education." Micallef and Joshua learned from this seminar and were challenged to think how school violence affects their community and what their role and the parent's role is in school safety. The goal of the conference is to probe the minds of the attendees, to challenge them to learn from this experience and share it with their colleagues, "We want to challenge them to go back into their communities, network with their co-workers and say 'well, this is what we got out of this conference, let's see what we can do.'" The seminar on curriculum development was important to teachers and administrators. Jim Hollander, curriculum coordinator at the Ojibway and Cree Cultural Centre, presented a seminar on making curriculum culturally relevant. Hollander encouraged group work and discussion and provided a practical approach to teaching culturally relevant curriculum in First Nations communities. Hollander encouraged what he called "culturally relevant teaching." Teachers and students at this seminar were impressed by the seminar and encouraged to develop their own thoughts on curricula, "(the seminar] allowed us to do some thinking on our own views of curriculum development," said Allan Mountford, teacher at Durham School Board. Arlene John, student of English from Oneida, believes "We need to do our own curriculum development. We need to start from scratch." These seminars probed teachers, students and administrators to develop themselves in making schools safe and curriculum culturally relevant. The 4th First Nations Education Conference encouraged teachers, students and administrators to find the potential in every child. The organizers want to benefit the youth and LaForme believes, "if there is any way we can influence a child to becoming a better person that's what we want to do."