United Nations' Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues hosts its fourth session
A number of press releases from this year's United Nations's Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues highlight conditions similar to those experienced by First Nations across northern Ontario. Many of the recommendations are the same as those expressed by First Nation leaders across the region.
"the importance of quality education in pulling indigenous people out of poverty and preserving their cultures and knowledge systems" - i-newswire, May 21, 2005
"Priority should be placed on providing more and better education for indigenous peoples, with emphasis on implementing bilingual education programmes and providing nutritional head start programmes for children. Data collection methods should be improved to locate and identify indigenous peoples, and clear performance goals should be established to hold providers accountable."
"Indigenous children were more likely to attend school if their communities participated in all decisions about the content and management of their educational systems" - i-newswire, May 21, 2005
"indigenous children would feel comfortable in schools if they harmonized with their culture and traditions in a language they understood. Studies had shown that education conducted in their mother tongue allowed children to learn more quickly and transfer skills to another language.
She added that education for indigenous children meant learning about their own community’s ancestral traditions and reading and counting in their mother tongues, as well as their country’s history and dominant language. Emphasizing that non-indigenous children should also receive intercultural education, she said they could then learn about indigenous cultures and languages and positive inputs indigenous peoples made to overall society."
"The linkage of issues related to forests and indigenous peoples ... with a focus on good practices and barriers to implementing actions combating poverty." - i-newswire, May 18, 2005
"... concerned with the deterioration of the ecosystem. Governments that recognized ancestral rights and forestry rights were creating new opportunities to improve indigenous livelihoods and reduce poverty."
"United Nations hosts an expected 1,500 indigenous leaders, activists and representatives who will participate in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues from 16 to 27 May. At this, its fourth session, the Forum will examine situations faced by indigenous peoples as countries and organizations strive to meet the Millennium Development Goal targets, with special focus on the first two Goals -- to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and to achieve universal primary education." - i-newswire, May 17, 2005