Native post-secondary enrolment on the rise

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Three years after Native groups across Canada protested a federal government plan to freeze funding for post-secondary education, studies show more Native students are attending school and staying there.

A 1991 Indian Affairs basic status report shows post-secondary enrolment by Native students jumped to 21,000 in 1991 from 16,.000 in 1989.

In similar studies, departmental records show post-secondary enrolment for Native students in Alberta has jumped to 2,417 from 1,478 five years ago.

"It's encouraging," said University of Alberta Native Services Program co-ordinator June Kaida. "I hope that this trend continues."

Kaida directs the U of A's Native transition year program, which helps students cope with the university environment before entering their initial field of study.

University is becoming more accessible to Native students, she said. And Native youth are striving to become more involved in helping their people by gaining a better education.

"They are starting to realize how important it really is, and they're no longer afraid. Native students are realizing that without an education, they're limiting their potential."

The Native transition program, first launched in 1984, played a part in convincing students to stay in school, Kaida said. Now the program is drawing larger numbers. There is a backlog of 250 applications but only space for 80 students.

"There is tremendous peer support. It helped remove fears they may have had about going to university."

There are currently 30 aboriginal students enrolled at the U of A, more than double the 1989 enrolment.

This year, the U of A's Native transition program has been extended to include a variety of faculties from agriculture to nursing. Previously the program was only open to arts students.

While more Native students are opting for a higher education, many are showing determination to succeed despite facing serious obstacles, she added.

"Funding remains a problem for all of us," she said. "Budgets haven't changed, but the will (among Native students) has."

In the spring of 1989, Native students and organizations staged protests and demonstrations across Canada after the federal government announced sweeping changes to its policies for Native post-secondary education programs.

The government proposed a money-saving initiative known as the E-12 policy, which would put a ceiling on the amount of money paid out for Native post-secondary studies and would have reduced the number of years a student is eligible to receive the grant.

Native peoples feared the move would discourage or exclude Natives altogether from seeking a higher education. Native students protested the cutbacks, claiming the right to education was entrenched in their aboriginal treaties.

"But I never had any trouble obtaining the funding," explains first-year arts student Mitch Minde, 30.

He applied late last year for the treaty Indian education funding for his studies in criminology. "I've had a lot of support. This is how I'm going to help my people -- by getting an education," he said.

In response to E-12 protests, the federal government last year announced plans to offer Canadian Indian bands $242 million for post-secondary education, to be in place by 1996.

The federal grants are to be distributed jointly by Indian organizations and regional Indian Affairs offices, and will include payments for tuition, books, travel and living allowances.