Media.Knet.Ca

Funding crunch puts off badly needed native school repairs

Sue Bailey, THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA - January 23, 2008 -  New schools and even renovations are indefinitely stalled for over-crowded native students across Canada as Indian Affairs blames a federal funding crunch.
Leaders in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec and New Brunswick say upgrades are on hold despite a federal budget surplus that's expected to top $2 billion - even after sweeping tax cuts.
Critics say the federal Conservatives are shifting capital funds to subsidize other education costs and expenses.

Under-funding, makeshift buildings and lack of supplies are often blamed for high native drop-out rates.

Conservative commentary on the importance of aboriginal education appears to be little more than lip service, says Vince Hill.

"They've put a freeze on even our renovation dollars," said the co-director of education for the Prince Albert Grand Council in Saskatchewan. It's one of the largest tribal councils in Canada, representing 12 bands and 26 communities.

Hill said at least a quarter of the council's 29 schools need major repairs.

Sometimes there isn't even a building. A school at Deschambault Lake in northern Saskatchewan hasn't been replaced since it burnt down in 2004.

Kids from kindergarten to Grade 6 are now crammed into a school built for Grades 7-12, Hill said. The science lab and even the gym stage have been used as general class space.

Another school on the Red Earth First Nation was flagged by a health inspector for potentially hazardous black mold "a number of years ago," said Hill.

That report seems to have had little or no effect on getting the health issue addressed and getting a new school for the community.

"With the new Conservative government, we're finding that the belt seems to be tightening even more," said Hill.

"We're involved in what's called the new paper wars. It's incredible how much paper is being shuffled back and forth to make it look like something's happening. But very little is transpiring on our end."

The Conservatives announced $50 million last spring for five new schools and seven renovations or expansions across the country. Critics say that falls well short of need. Some say the federal approach is racist.

"When I say racist, I mean it's based on a contempt and indifference for an entire segment of our country," NDP MP Charlie Angus said in an interview.

His northern Ontario riding of Timmins-James Bay includes some of the poorest, most remote reserves in Canada.

"I was a school board trustee. I know what the rights are of students . . . . This isn't Alabama in the '50s."

Yet funding rules and obligations "go out the window" when it comes to First Nations schools and federal budget formulas, Angus says.

Such funding caps, he asserts, "are designed to limit the ability of a First Nations school to pay properly for teachers, to have proper sized classrooms, to have special education dollars available."

Angus is outraged that Indian Affairs, after months of talks with the Attawapiskat First Nation in his riding, now says a new elementary school there isn't in the cards.

An Indian Affairs spokesman in Ontario says no projects have been cancelled, but that capital budgets are under review due to higher construction and other costs.

"The capital plan is priorized to take into consideration health and safety on Ontario First Nations," said Tony Prudori in an interview.

A Health Canada inspection at Attawapiskat found "the current school facilities have no immediate health or safety concerns," he said.

Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Hall says that depends on how you define health risks. More than 400 elementary pupils have relied on eight portables since their school was closed in 2000. Leaking oil from a heating system funded by Indian Affairs first contaminated the building in 1979.

Students run between sweaty gym classes in the high school back to outdoor portables in sub-zero weather, she said. Mobile classrooms were supposed to be a temporary quick fix - eight years ago. One of them is now cracking.

Attendance is down and there's no sense of school unity, Hall added.

She says her community used precious funds over several months to hammer out a capital planning study for a new school. The talks with Indian Affairs went so far as settling on the size of the project - 5,002 square metres, she said.

It wasn't until Dec. 18 that federal officials said they lacked the budget to actually build anything, Hall said.