FUNDING CAP LIFTED BY OTTAWA
First Nations education to receive $1.25B
The federal government’s reworked plan for First Nations education commits to statutory funding for onreserve schooling and eliminates a long-standing two per cent cap on education funding increases.
The deal struck with the Assembly of First Nations, and announced Friday, drew cautious optimism from Chief Perry Bellegarde of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, who said it is too soon to say how core funding of $1.25 billion over three years beginning in 2016 will compare with current, inadequate funding to on-reserve schools across Canada.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper outlined details of the agreement along with national Chief Shawn Atleo at the Kainai High School at the Blood reserve in southern Alberta.
“This is historic and it is a great day for Canada, for First Nations communities and for the next generation,” Harper said. “But it is also long overdue.”
The bill is meant to improve transparency and promote accountability, including annual reporting requirements.
But overall control is to remain with First Nations, Harper said.
The legislation will allow for the establishment of First Nation Education Authorities that he likened to local school boards off-reserve.
“We are talking about the kind of local control and response to local culture and history that we have in education across the country in most communities,” he said.
Bellegarde, who attended the announcement, is pleased that the proposed bill has been renamed the First Nations Control of First Nations Education Act, thus reflecting a demand formally voiced more than 40 years ago in Saskatchewan.
“There is respect and recognition for inherent rights and title ... We’ve been talking about that since 1972,” Bellegarde said.
The three funding streams announced Friday will replace the current complex funding structure, the government said.
The core funding is to cover language and culture and allows for annual increases of 4.5 per cent.
Bellegarde said he hopes the funding will address the tuition disparity between the $6,500 per child on reserve, the $10,000 per child in the provincial school system and the $18,500 per child in the French school system.
“If we can close that gap then it’s a positive thing,” he said.
The infrastructure stream in the new funding model provides $500 million over seven years beginning in 2015.
That $71.4 million per year for the whole country, “doesn’t sound like very much,” said Chief Felix Thomas of the Saskatoon Tribal Council, who suggested a comparison with local school construction costs.
In Saskatoon, two new, combined Willowgrove schools set to open this fall cost $39.8 million.
“When you break that down, it’s not a lot of money,” Bellegarde said.
“When we should be moving a yard, we might have moved an inch but it’s still some movement. And there’s still so much need.”
The third stream will provide $160 million over four years for implementation of the plan beginning in 2015.
The plan calls for standards consistent with provincial standards off-reserve. It also says students will have to meet attendance requirements and teachers will have to be provincially certified.
Part of the expectation in the deal is that First Nations schools award widely recognized diplomas and certificates to students who finish their schooling on-reserve. The government said this requirement does not currently exist, and that has resulted in First Nations youth being turned away from jobs or post-secondary institutions because they cannot prove their educational achievements.
Sakimay First Nation Chief Lynn Acoose called the announcement “a bunch of smoke and mirrors.” She said the funding is needed immediately in reserve classrooms and should not be tied to patronizing federal legislation.
“This is economic bullying. They’re withholding our children’s money until after the (federal) election,” said Acoose.
“They have an obligation to provide those resources.”
Even if First Nations agreed to the unacceptable terms, Acoose is skeptical of the money actually arriving. She notes there have been a number of First Nations education funding promises made in recent years by federal officials that were not kept.
“Why should we believe them now?” she said.
Thunderchild First Nation Chief Delbert Wapass said the funding is needed immediately.
“Come on, 2016? Why don’t they just say they’re trying to buy the Indian vote? What are our kids supposed to do until then?” Wapass said.