Marten Falls First Nation school closed waiting for INAC to provide funding for repairs
To see some pictures of the children of Marten Falls during a recent visit of INAC officials to their community, click here.
From the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal
Feds fund fix for school
By CARL CLUTCHEY - January 16, 2008
The federal government is giving Marten Falls First Nation $780,000 so it can fix its elementary school and reopen the doors to students.
“This is one-time funding to deal with this particular situation,” Indian and Northern Affairs Canada spokesman Tony Prudori said Wednesday.
Marten Falls band council closed the school on the fly-in reserve last week because it was deemed to be no longer safe for the community‘s 90 students.
Prudori said $650,000 will be used to fix the school‘s heating and fire-suppression sprinkler systems, with the remaining $130,000 allotted for repairs to the roof.
Indian Affairs and band officials are in the process of determining a time-table to get the repairs completed, Prudori added.
Matawa First Nations Management CEO David Paul Achneepineskum said the students won‘t return to the school until the repairs have been made, which he said could take until spring.
Students on the Ojibwa reserve, located about 150 kilometres north of Geraldton, are currently working on school assignments out of the home.
The decision to commit $780,000 for the repairs followed a meeting at Marten Falls on Friday between band councillors and Indian Affairs managers.
Of the 10 First Nations that are part of the Matawa tribal council, Achneepineskum said the school at Marten Falls is in the worst condition. The others aren‘t too bad, he added, although the school at nearby Fort Hope First Nation is experiencing over-crowding.
Though Marten Falls‘ school is only about 20 years old, it was not properly designed for a remote reserve, officials say.
The heating system, for instance, requires a highly-trained technician, and at Marten Falls there isn‘t one, said Achneepineskum.
Other native leaders say it‘s a constant battle to make sure remote native schools are kept in good repair.
“From my perspective, the situation at Marten Falls is not unique,” said Terry Waboose, a deputy grand chief with Nishnawbe-Aski Nation.
Waboose said some remote schools that were built in the 1960s are in bad need of capital funding that doesn‘t become available quickly enough.
Prudori said the one-time grant Marten Falls is receiving won‘t reduce the amount of the operating grant the reserve gets each year to maintain the school as well as a teacher‘s residence.
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From the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal
Maintenance woes keep school closed
By CARL CLUTCHEY, January 11, 2008
About 90 elementary school students at remote Marten Falls First Nation stayed home for a fourth day Friday as band leaders and federal officials met face to face to try to come up with a plan to rid the reserve‘s elementary school of its mechanical woes.
Marten Falls Chief Harry Baxter said council closed the school Tuesday, even though Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) officials had already agreed to travel to the fly-in community about 150 kilometres northeast of Geraldton.
Baxter said the closure was necessary to underline the school‘s shortcomings, which include a lack of clean drinking water, inoperable fire sprinklers and heating problems.
“The sprinklers never worked from day one,” Baxter said. “I‘m not opening it until everything is fixed.”
INAC spokesman Tony Prudori said the department annually provides Marten Falls with $365,000 to maintain the school as well as a residence for teachers.
The band gets an additional $284,000 every year to maintain all community buildings.
“We provide the funding, and (the band) operate the school,” said Prudori.
Asked if the money is enough, Baxter said the reserve often gets hit with unforeseen costs, such as an overhaul of the reserve‘s diesel-powered electricity system.
“I knew they were going to tell you that,” said Baxter, referring to the amounts.
Prudori said the band also has the option of appealing to its tribal council, as well as applying for “special-request” funding from INAC.
Meanwhile, students at Marten Falls were doing work their teachers prepared for them at home, Baxter said.
Friday‘s meeting with INAC officials was going well, he added.
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Marten Falls First Nation appeals to INAC to fix school
Web Posted: 1/10/2008
Officials with the Marten Falls First Nation have issued an appeal for assistance from Indian and Northern Affairs after being forced to shut down their community school earlier this week.
In a press release Thursday Chief Harry Baxter cited several concerns that led to the closure that include a lack of potable water, inoperable fire sprinklers in the building, difficulties with the school's heating system and an unwillingness by contractors to undertake repairs at the facility.
Chief Baxter says they've been talking to INAC for months about the need for repairs and completion of past renovation projects. The Band says immediate steps must now be taken to provide temporary teaching space until the necessary work can be done.