Chief answers auditor general on education

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If Indian and Northern Affairs Canada wants better value for the money spent on First Nations people's education, they will have to work much more closely with First Nations peoples.

That's the opinion of Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation Chief Mel Isnana. He made his comments after the federal auditor general released a report in mid-April that was critical of the department's ways of working with bands to ensure quality education for First Nations school children.

Denis Desautels, Canada's auditor-general, said in his report that the federal government's mandate in education for First Nations people is no longer well defined. Because of this, Desautels said, the Department of Indian Affairs' "accountability for results is weakened and its assurance that education funding is being spent appropriately is, at best, unclear."

Isnana said the federal government has different - and in most cases, lower - education standards and requirements than provincial governments. Reserve schools such as Standing Buffalo's also have to deal with more special needs students, such as those suffering for fetal alcohol syndrome, he added.

"Indian Affairs has always wanted to say that the funding for First Nations schools on reserve is comparable to provincial schools. We find that's not happening. One example is physical education. There's no physical education program for our schools," he said. "We're trying to get the department to fund a person for proper physical education instruction, but that hasn't happened."

Also, Indian Affairs uses a different formula for school funding than the provinces, he said.

"All our funding for schools on reserve is formula-driven," he said. "When that happens, because we have about 130 students, we only have so much money to work with. The provincial government's education system is based on need and requirements within the system."

This would mean that a higher basic level of service would be supplied to smaller schools such as those on reserves, he added.

Special needs students require extra time and care by teachers, and the cost of getting those children an education is higher than the cost for an average student, he said, adding that the federal government doesn't provide enough money in its education transfers for such students.

Better education would also help First Nations preserve their cultures and languages as well as protect treaty and Indigenous rights, Isnana believes.

More than one-fifth of INAC's $4.6 billion annual budget goes to paying for school programs. Under terms of the Indian Act and treaties signed between Ottawa and First Nations, the federal government is authorized to provide or pay for First Nation education. But in recent years, the federal government has turned over that responsibility, in most cases, either to the provinces or to First Nation councils.

Despite those difficulties, Chief Isnana says some aspects of education at his reserve's school are better than at neighboring schools off the reserve.

"After taking over our education, about 10 years ago, we felt that we were comparable to the provincial curriculum. On the reserve there's more grades in one classroom and the teacher has more time with students.

"When students go into the provincial system, there are a lot of children in one grade. For any student to go see a teacher for help on an individual basis, it's very minimal. The time isn't there for the teachers," he said.