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Senate report calls for reform of First Nations education

A national report released Monday says that First Nations education is in crisis and requires a complete overhaul but the school principal at the Alexander First Nation said his school, while faced with challenges, is better off than most aboriginal

A national report released Monday says that First Nations education is in crisis and requires a complete overhaul but the school principal at the Alexander First Nation said his school, while faced with challenges, is better off than most aboriginal schools.

A standing Senate committee Monday released a report that painted a picture of inequality between First Nations schools and others throughout the country.

“First Nations kids do not get an education that is comparable to their non-First Nation neighbours who live a kilometre down the road,” said committee chair Senator Gerry St. Germain in a news release Monday.

Ray Soetaert, principal of Alexander’s Kipohtakaw Education Centre, acknowledged the alarm bells raised by the report but stressed that his school is not in crisis.

“Alexander is more fortunate than some First Nations because it is less isolated, than say, some northern reserves,” he said. “Our school faces many challenges but it is making progress, in part because of the diligence of staff and also because of community support.”

Last month members of the National Panel on First Nation Elementary and Secondary Education visited Alexander to speak with a number of chiefs and educators from the Treaty 6 reserves. That visit was part of a cross-country tour of First Nations schools. The Senate report is the result of the tour.

At that meeting in Alexander, local aboriginal educators addressed the inequalities they believe their students face.

“I would love to have the same opportunities for our children as those children, say in Morinville,” said Alexander’s director of education Laverne Arcand, who blamed a lack of funding per student, as the major problem for Kipohtakaw Education Centre.

Monday’s Senate report backs up Arcand’s argument, but argues that money alone will not fix the problems faced by First Nations educators.

The report calls for First Nations education financing reform. Funding for schools currently goes through the band offices.

“Everywhere else, we have school boards, ministries of education, education acts. We need to get beyond the 518 individually-run, band-operated schools and create a First Nations system of education that can support those schools to deliver high quality on-reserve education,” St. Germain said.

In November, fact-finding Senate committee members visiting Alexander Reserve were told that First Nations schools receive $2,000 to $3,000 less in funding per student.

Soetaert could not verify those numbers but he explained that the dollars allocated to each First Nations school must first be channelled through band councils.

“The question that has to be asked by the chief and council is, ‘What’s the priority?’ The amount of funds designated for education has to go to the schools,” Soetaert said, as he explained that teachers at Kipohtakaw do not have pay equity with their counterparts in provincial schools.

“Teachers are not paid the same and teacher retention is so important because when teachers stay they create a bond with the students and with the community,” he said. “Pay equity is huge.”

Nationwide, the Senate committee found that as many as seven out of 10 children do not graduate from high school.

“Our school has possibly the highest graduation rates among First Nations schools, but it is still not high enough. I don’t know the percentage of graduates,” Soetaert said.

Kipohtakaw has many amenities that other First Nations schools do not, including a gymnasium, a library and computers.

Still, Soetaert agreed his students do not have the same educational advantages as their peers in other local schools.

“The educational inequalities are mostly because our school is much smaller. But the inequalities the Senate report highlights are true for students with special needs. We don’t have the professional resources for those students with profound needs. That is where our school struggles,” he said.

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