Bands take control of educating children

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Only four Alberta bands have federally run schools on their reserve. And in the next two to three years those bands too are expected to assume control of education.

The impetus for Native control of Native schools came from a 1969 federal government white paper on Native education. That report recommended the integration of Indian children into the provincial school systems.

The report sparked a wave of protest among Natives. They feared the special needs of Indian children, different from non-Native students, would not be addressed. The National Indian Brotherhood was moved to produce its own 'red paper', recommending Natives take control on Indian education.

In 1974 the Ermineskin band near Hinton took over the running of its school from Indian Affairs. It was the first Alberta band to take over control of education on its reserve.

They were followed by Kehewin band in 1975, the Peace Point Cree band in 1978 and by Bigstone, Enoch and Sturgeon Lake in 1979,.

Over a 20-year period more and more bands have set up education committees and band councils have also become school boards. Today there are 7,251 Alberta Native students attending Native-run reserve schools. And the numbers are increasing steadily.

Seven bands also have schools operated by the province, under tuition agreements with local school jurisdictions.

The federal schools, and in particular the much-maligned residential boarding schools, have not had a sterling record in the education of Native children.

Charlie Green, education analyst for Indian Affairs in Alberta, said he doesn't think that was the major reason for bands assuming control of their schools.

"It was just that more and more (Native) people became interested in the education of their own people," said Green.

And while Indian Affairs was now actively encouraging local control, some bands were suspicious.

"They interpreted it to mean the department was dumping their responsibility."

Indian Affairs continues to have an obligation under the treaties to provide education. Its major responsibility now is financing. Reserve schools are funded under

a formula based on student population. Currently it is $4,850 per student and half that rate for kindergarten students. Bands received additional money for operation and maintenance costs, equipment and special programs such as special education.

The department continues to provide funding under a tuition agreement with the local school boards for students who attend off-reserve schools.

However, Green said the department requires band councils to ensure there is an adequate level of enrolment to make a local reserve school worthwhile.

"One way we encourage them to stay (at the reserve school) is that if they went to another school they would have to pay their own way...We wouldn't provide funding."

The band councils are in full control of the school's operations, including staffing. Green said the department requires the bands to follow the provincial curriculum and hire teachers with comparable qualifications and maintain similar standards to the provincial systems.

Only a few Alberta bands, the Siksika, Bloods and Alexander bands have high schools. Most schools are kindergarten to Grade 9. In the future, if student enrolments warrant it, additional bands could acquire high schools, Green said.

Few could argue that the past record of education of Native children, first by European missionaries and then the federal government, has fallen far short of success. The dramatic horror stories of the residential schools is only one side of it. The poor performance of Native students and record high dropout rates are well documented.

It is not surprising that when the federal bureaucracy wanted to move from total segregation to integration, Native parents and leaders did not trust their judgment.

A former president of the Indian-Eskimo Association of Canada, Walter Currie, offered an explanation in a 1972 report, Education of Yukon Indians.

"Education f Indians has been characterized by a policy of cultural replacement under which the textbooks, the schools, the philosophy of education has been designed to make white men out of Indians. Little attention has been paid to Indian culture, history and language. The result has been a tremendous disillusionment among Indian people with the process of education which is creating conflict between parents and children and severe psychological disorders for the children involved.....Indian parents feel the educational system threatened the integrity of their way of life and causes children to become lazy, disobedient and disrespectful of the past. The educational system produces children who are in conflict because they cannot cope with a new way of life."

As more and more Native bands are looking toward self-government and more control over their own affair, education is seen as a major step in that direction. It is also seen as the link to preserving Native languages and traditions.

As a civil-servant, Green is non-committal on the relationship between self-government and education. It is a political question, he said.