INAC commits to providing a response to BOFF protest by NAN educators as fast ends
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From the Chronicle Journal ... http://www.chroniclejournal.com/stories_local.php?id=70451
Hunger strikers make their point
By BRYAN MEADOWS - October 17, 2007
A week-long hunger strike by two First Nation educators has raised awareness about a lack of federal funding for education on remote aboriginal communities in Northwestern Ontario.
“That was what we wanted,” Dean Cromarty said Wednesday, adding, however, that there is overall disappointment about the federal government response to the protest.
Cromarty is a spokesman for Matthew Angees of Wunnumin Lake and Douglas Beardy of Muskrat Dam who ended their fast Tuesday afternoon outside the regional office of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) in Thunder Bay.
More than 100 people, including First Nation leaders from across the region, local supporters, and members of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (Big Trout Lake First Nation) showed up to congratulate the two men.
Angees and Beardy fasted for seven days to try and secure a commitment from the federal government to increase the funding formula for band-operated schools – a formula that has not been adjusted in almost 20 years.
They are seeking intervention by the government prior to Treasury Board‘s fall 2007 renewal of First Nation Education Authorities.
Angees is a former principal who oversees language programs in five native communities north of Thunder Bay. Beardy is an educator in the fly-in community of Muskrat Dam.
Cromarty noted that the group has so far been “disappointed‘‘ with Indian Affairs‘ response.
“(All) we‘ve been told is that INAC Minister Chuck Strahl is preparing a response to our concerns,” he said.
A spokesman for MP Joe Comuzzi (C-Thunder Bay-Superior North) said he plans to discuss the issue with Strahl in Ottawa.
Liberal MP Roger Valley (Kenora) telephoned the group last week to offer his support.
Wunnumin Lake First Nation gets $8,200 per student for education, compared to $9,432 schools in the provincial system get for each student.
Susan Bertrand, INAC manager of media relations in Thunder Bay, said the funding formula is being reviewed and compared to the provincial grant formula.
She said the intention is to modernize the formula.
Funding for the current First Nation Education Authorities expires March 2008.