First Nation education rights for post-secondary programs being considered for changes
From the Halifax Chronicle Herald
Ottawa considering turning grants into loans for aboriginal students: Free Press
By THE CANADIAN PRESS - Dec 27
WINNIPEG — The federal government is considering turning university grants for aboriginal students into repayable loans.
The Winnipeg Free Press said in a report from Ottawa that Patricia Valladao, spokeswoman for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, confirmed the Post-Secondary Student Support Program is under review.
She wouldn't say if the department has decided to transfer control of $314 million in student grants for First Nations university and college students to the existing Canada Student Loans Program, administered by provinces.
The review is worrying some aboriginal leaders and university officials across the country.
One Quebec-based aboriginal group, the First Nations Education Council, is circulating a web-based petition against any changes. More than 13,000 supporters have signed it since its launch online Nov. 13.
Statistics Canada reported this month that the employment rate for aboriginal people who have not graduated high school is 50 per cent, but it jumps to 80 per cent for those with a post-secondary education.
Lloyd Axworthy, president of the University of Winnipeg, said fewer aboriginal students will go to university or college if they have to apply for a loan.
According to the 2006 census by Statistics Canada, 35 per cent of the aboriginal population had graduated from a trade, college or university program, compared to 51 per cent of the general Canadian population.
"The gap is actually widening over the last couple of years,'' Axworthy said. ``Before they change the policy, I really think there has to be and should be a much broader consultation with the universities and with the aboriginal student groups and others to come up with a formula that really makes sense, as opposed to one that's going to be designed inside the system.''
University of Winnipeg student Ryan Bruyere graduated from the aboriginal governance program this summer. He said he was funded by Sagkeeng First Nation, 145 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, because they could see he was determined to improve his life despite a troubled past.
"You just won't get that through a bureaucrat,'' Bruyere said. ``They're looking at us as numbers, whereas we're (now) being looked at as community members.''
Before attending university, Bruyere was involved in petty crime. Now he's considering a master's program.
Sagkeeng First Nation Chief Donavan Fontaine said the real issue of underfunding will not be addressed by transferring funds to a loan agency.
"Why should you pay back a loan for something that is a right? We've paid many times over for our rights and resources.''
"Off-loading to the province is dangerous,'' Fontaine added. ``Our treaties are not with the province.''
Education is a treaty right, but the Indian Act makes no reference to training at the post-secondary level.
For that reason, the federal government often argues that support for post-secondary education is a matter of public policy rather than a treaty obligation.
Gilbert Whiteduck, chief of the Kitigan Zibi First Nation 130 kilometres north of Hull, Que., said Ottawa justifies the change by claiming First Nations abuse the grant by diverting student funds toward other reserve programs such as emergency housing.
"Those are tough choices, when Indian Affairs does not provide those basic needs at a level that would meet the needs of First Nations and the growing family,'' Whiteduck said. "I don't buy at all into their criticism of mismanagement to the level that they claim.''
Status First Nations and Inuit people hold constitutional treaty rights granting them access to federal funding for education. The money is distributed by individual bands, but no student is guaranteed sponsorship.
In a 2008 report, the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation says aboriginal students prefer grant-based education funding through their bands to repayable financial assistance. They see it as a constitutional right, the report stated.
Indian Affair's Valladao said there's no date yet for completing the review.
"All options have been considered,'' Valladao said. "We believe that First Nations students deserve the access to education. And we encourage them to stay in school, and to graduate and to give them all the skills they need to enter the labour market.''