Province slashes grants for Aboriginal students

The province’s promise to help First Nations students to have the “same educational opportunities” as their non-Aboriginal counterparts has taken a blow in Budget 2015.

The budget, which was brought down on March 26, included a $1.4 million slash in grants to school boards for Aboriginal students.

Not even two weeks earlier, Premier Jim Prentice, who along with Education Minister Gordon Dirks and Aboriginal Relations Associate Minister David Dorward, met with Grand Chiefs and Chiefs to talk about education as a priority for his government.

“I think we very quickly reached a consensus in the room that we wish to see a province where First Nations students are getting exactly the same educational opportunities that all Alberta students are getting… that is the future we aspire to get to,” said Prentice at the midway point of the daylong March 15 meeting.

Treaty 7 Grand Chief Charles Weasel Head, said the government’s ”words were well-crafted…. The discussions gave a sense that the province is willing to work and fill in … a gap in regards to how can the governments work on a government-to-government basis.… It’s just taking the same step forward, (saying), ‘Listen, we need to do more, so we can have more successful outcomes. Let’s help each other to help our young people be successful in education to move on to be successful in post-secondary and careers beyond that.’”

Weasel Head says the government did not commit to financially closing the gap in funding that lies between what First Nations students receive from the federal government and what the province pays for non-First Nations students to be educated. That gap in funding is as high as 40 per cent in some provinces.

Instead, says Weasel Head, the province committed to working with First Nations to help protect language, culture and traditional knowledge, agreeing to include these aspects in the overall Alberta curriculum.

“We preserve and enhance First Nations languages, which … very much are part of our culture and heritage in this province, and that we want to protect and advance through the education system,” said Prentice.

Toward this end, says Weasel Head, and in response to failed federal education legislation, the Blackfoot Nations of Piikani, Siksika, and Kainai have established the Blackfoot Confederacy Education Authority, drawn together through location, economics, similar culture and language.

“We haven’t quite reached the outcomes we are hoping to get in regards to, especially on reserve, K-12 outcomes, so by bridging together the knowledge base of the three tribes, hopefully we can perhaps identify best practise models and be a little bit more particular about (how we) refer to our Blackfoot culture, language and tradition,” said Weasel Head.

There have been discussions with the other Blackfoot Confederacy members, he says, but at this point, the plan is to keep the BCEA to three members, operating more as a pilot project.  Weasel Head says the Blackfoot tribes, along with other First Nations across the country, are still waiting to find out how the federal government will move forward with education on the reserves.

“But we can’t afford to wait and play politics with our young people, our young learners … I think it was just a natural fit to move forward with the Blackfoot education authority. It’s based on moving forward on our own authority, our own destiny, in creating our own opportunities and just not waiting for both the federal and provincial governments to provide that,” said Weasel Head.

No funding has been allocated to the BCEA, although the participants are contributing toward administrative costs. Weasel Head says he is hopeful that if BCEA is able to enter into an agreement with either the province or Ottawa, that dollars will follow.

Prentice says the province will look at how it can work with First Nations educational authorities in a manner that will respect First Nation jurisdictional authority over its education.

Weasel Head says the commitment from Prentice and his ministers is no different from what First Nations have heard in the past.

“There’s always been that appetite to work together, to partner together, to bring successful outcomes. But what we’ve seen is there’s been a lot of discussion and no real action forward. The latest rounds … with the premier, I’m not sure if there’s going to be any tangible or specific results out of it,” said Weasel Head.