ABORIGINAL EDUCATION and CULTURE

September 26, 2009

Marianne Singh-Waraich, CFUW National Director of Educational Affairs gave an update on Aboriginal Education.

The Kelowna Accord was momentous because it was the first time that national Aboriginal leaders, federal and provincial governments had been able to jointly agree on a set of actions. When the Kelowna accord failed, national aboriginal leaders requested the provincial premiers to please continue their efforts at problem solving. The Premiers agreed to do this and met with Aboriginal leaders last year in the Maritimes.

As a result of their efforts, CMEC, the Canadian Council of Ministers of Education, which discusses education at the national level and represents Canada at international education conferences as well as coordinates the curricula of the provinces, had a conference last year in the Prairies at which they decided to make aboriginal education a priority. They did in fact tender contracts for discovering best practices.

Aboriginal education is a federal responsibility and comes under a federal department INAC, which funds and often administers education on reserves and funds Status Indians for off reserve education within their budget limitation.

When I did research on drop outs from high school with the Ontario Council Education Committee in 2005, the north had a disproportionate number of high school drop outs. Closer examination of these figures revealed that most of them were Aboriginal students. There are many reasons for this. Students usually have their elementary education on reserve but must join the regular school board off reserve for high school. The cultural differences play a role since in aboriginal culture young people respect their elders and are not encouraged to question. This creates problems in discussion which is essential for many high school courses. Students are insecure about mingling with town students who are of a different culture. Prejudice is still a factor.

In Ontario, the Ministry of Education has initiated a 2 year pilot project “ The Urban Aboriginal Education Project” in partnership with three school Boards to try to improve the success rate of aboriginal students K-12. Many Boards applied but the three chosen represent different types of urban centres. The Toronto District School Board has an aboriginal high school as does Northern James Bay. The Simcoe Board of Education (Barrie and Midland Area) and the Lakehead School Board in Thunder Bay are the other two Boards chosen. Tuition is paid by the Band Council which gets its money from INAC.

Large steering committees were selected to engage the parents and the students. Aboriginal students often have disengaged parents, (a factor in lack of scholastic success) because they are products of the residential school system and distrust official education systems as a result. Also, when Aboriginal people come to a town or city to live, they lose their social network and are isolated in a different culture, much like immigrants. Many do not self identify even if they can get extra help this way because of the history of prejudice they have experienced.

The projects are research based with the aim of finding models so the impact will be measured to discover best practices. It began with a literary review in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Official attitudes are changing. Parents are brought in along with the students with a focus on literacy. Parents are taught how to support their children at school. A module was developed in Toronto” Learning through the Arts” with Aboriginal artists. EQ results will be disaggregated . This is essential to measure progress but in the past students were not asked re racial origins. They now self identify and increasing numbers are doing so. There is again an Aboriginal Education Office at the Ministry of Education. Curriculum and textbooks need rewriting. eg. History texts still reflect European conquest and exclude the Aboriginal side of Canadian history. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is a problem. Aboriginal people have more health problems in general, eg, H1N1. Staff is given a manual. Five important aspects in success are: diverse community partners, a safe welcoming environment, multiple programs and flexibility in supporting the learner, strong leadership in advocacy and sustainability and a demonstration of respect for traditional Aboriginal knowledge. This guide for staff “Aboriginal Presence in our Schools” is produced by Lakehead Public school and the Urban Aboriginal Task Force.

What can you do?

The Assembly of First Nations, in its brief “ It’s our Time” to the federal government Finance Committee this August 2009 asked the government to lift the cap on Aboriginal education funding. Since 1996, the increase in federal funding for Aboriginal education has been limited to 2% annually. In the same years, the average increase in funding for public school boards was 3.8%.This means that it has been chronically underfunded . The increase is not even enough to cover inflation. Aboriginal population growth has been 6.2% annually, so this limit of 2% increases the underfunding each year. Moreover, Aboriginal education receives no funding for technical education, school libraries, sports and other extracurricular activities, special education and transportation.

Please write your MP and ask him/her to lift the cap of 2% on educational funding and add this request to your agenda when you meet for your annual visit with your MP this fall.

Marianne Singh-Waraich

April 4, 2008

From: Lu Ann Hill, Aboriginal Institutes’ Consortium
To: Wendy Taylor, Chair, Standing Committee on Education
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 3:27 PM
Subject: Thanks for First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI)

Thank you and your organization for all the support provided to FNTI.  With the funding announcement this week, the battle is calm for now but not over.  There will be a lot of work to do in the coming year to continue to secure funding for FNTI along with the other First Nations institutions.   

Lu Ann Hill
Aboriginal Institutes' Consortium
188 Mohawk Street
Brantford, ON, N3S 2X2
T 519 759 3725
F 519 759 5616
Website: www.aboriginalinstitute.com

“The successes of Aboriginal-controlled institutions should be acknowledged by government, supported and built upon ... government should put in place measures that strengthen and promote the long-term viability of these key institutions for the future of Aboriginal postsecondary education." No Higher Priority: Aboriginal Post-Secondary Education in Canada pp 39
http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/CommitteePublication.aspx?COM=10463&Lang=1&SourceId=194186
 
The Aboriginal Institutes' Consortium is comprised of Aboriginal owned and controlled post-secondary education and training institutions that work collaboratively to secure stable and adequate resources to support the recognition and continued development of Aboriginal institutions. 

The National Association of Indigenous Institutes of Higher Learning will advance, advocate and support post-secondary, technical, adult and related Indigenous education for the betterment of our institutions, communities and people.  

Feb. 1st, 2008
CFUW Ontario Council is very concerned about the potential closure of the First Nations Technical Institute on the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, near Belleville, ON. A letter has been sent to the Premier.

January 19th, 2008

ABORIGINAL EDUCATION & CULTURE from Pre-school to Post-Secondary Graduation, STANDING COMMITTEES MEETING morning session
The morning session featured two speakers, both aboriginal, on developments and challenges in aboriginal education, at elementary, secondary and post secondary levels. Elizabeth Bigwin is with the Aboriginal Education Office of the Ministry of Education, an office that was established in 2006 on the present government’s recognizing aboriginal education as a top priority. Lu Ann Hill represents the Aboriginal Institutes Consortium, a group advocating for increased support for aboriginal post-secondary education.
Elizabeth Bigwin described her office’s aims and strategy for restoring respect and collaboration with the province’s 50,000 aboriginal students (First Nation, Metis and Inuit). The aim is to ensure that students achieve the knowledge and skills necessary to function in the mainstream in an environment that recognizes traditional skills and culture, and to increase the system’s ability to this end.
In an attempt to recognize where needs are greatest, Boards of Education are encouraged to self identify as having aboriginal students - so far, 21 (of 72) have, 30 more are in progress. In September 2007 the Office’s efforts expanded to the Secondary level, with dedicated funding of $13 million, with the goal of preparing aboriginal students for post-secondary education.
Specific goals are to increase the educational system’s ability to meet the cultural and learning needs of aboriginal students by:

• providing quality services and appropriate curriculum
• assisting aboriginal students to meet provincial standards
• increasing aboriginal teaching staff
• increasing the graduation rate
• increasing overall achievement
• increasing self esteem
• increasing collaboration with aboriginal educators, the Federal government, the College of Teachers, western provinces

The office recognizes the size of its undertaking, but aims to build "the will and skill, one Board, one school, one teacher, one student at a time."
Lu Ann Hill, of the Bear Clan, Six Nations of the Grand River, began with an overview of indigenous education (she prefers the term "indigenous" to "aboriginal", "First Nations", etc), including residential schools and various government initiatives.
She pointed out that until 1951 indigenous people had to relinquish their identity to attend post secondary institutions. Since then, government support and assistance has increased gradually, so that now there are 50 post secondary indigenous institutions in Canada, tasked with providing training and knowledge in many fields, while reflecting indigenous culture and needs.
Enrollment in these institutions has increased 95% in the past five years, but Ms. Hill claims that thousands of qualified applicants are denied access because of lack of funding. The profile of attendees is mainly women, often mature, with family and job commitments.
Problems facing aboriginal institutions:

• A lack of adequate, sustained funding
• Lack of government and mainstream public recognition of the institutions’ degrees, diplomas and certificates
• The government expects that indigenous institutions will perform as well as regular universities and colleges, with much less funding: Ontario gives $1577 per indigenous student, $9667 for each mainstream student
• Indigenous institutions are forced into partnerships with mainstream universities and colleges.

A 2001 Federal government report acknowledges the need for aboriginal institutions, but provides no increased funding, with the result that these institutions are now organizing regionally (they are much more successful in Western provinces) and are slowly gaining regional recognition.a
Of special concern to Ms. Hill was the possible closure of the First Nations Technical Institute located on the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory east of Belleville, due to a funding impasse between the federal and provincial governments.
CFUW members are urged to lobby their federal and provincial members to provide support for these institutions.
Lu Ann Hill’s presentation www.aboriginalinstitute.com