Wahsa Distance Education Centre becomes the latest victim of government funding cuts
Letter to the Chiefs of the Sioux Lookout area First Nations
Chief and Council
Friday March 12, 2010
Effective April 1, 2010, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) will effectively and unilaterally shutdown the Wahsa Distance Education Centre, a program of Northern Nishnawbe Education Council. The Centre is a provincially accredited and federally funded high school that services 23 First Nations in the Sioux Lookout District. First Nations employ 31 community-based Wahsa Distance Education Coordinators and Assistants, and NNEC employs 17 Sioux Lookout based Wahsa staff.
For this current school year there are 788 registered students in the Wahsa program and 15 projected graduates.
309 students have graduated through Wahsa since 1992. These graduates have demonstrated a high success rate in their post- secondary college and university studies. These post secondary graduates have contributed substantially to the professional capacity of your First Nations.
70% of the Wahsa budget will be clawed back by INAC without prior consultation or reasonable explanation to Northern Nishnawbe Education Council. This unilateral INAC decision will severely cripple NNEC operations. Repeated attempts to resolve the matter have fallen on deaf ears at INAC.
Your community-based Wahsa Distance Education Centre program and NNEC is in major crisis.
Vince Ostberg, NNEC Board Member
Ph: 807 363 1011