Parties duel over First Nations education funding in final days of campaign
- Fraser Needham | October 16, 2015
In one of the many strange twists and turns of the 2015 federal election campaign, the funding of First Nations education has received quite bit of attention.
It is not uncommon in federal campaigns for Aboriginal issues to get nary a mention from any of the main political parties.
However, this is not the case this time around.
In mid-August, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau made a stop in Saskatoon that focused specifically on addressing the federal funding gap in on-reserve education.
And then just last week, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair met with Assembly of First Nations officials outside Edmonton to launch his party’s plan for First Nations education.
Both party leaders say they want to take a different and nation-to-nation approach, as compared to the Harper government, when it comes to fulfilling Ottawa’s treaty obligations to fund Indigenous education.
The Conservatives have made little mention of their plan for funding First Nations education in this campaign.
This not surprising since little has been resolved by the government with Indigenous leaders since the latter flatly rejected the Harper government’s First Nations Control of First Nations Education Act this spring.
Also known as Bill C-33, Indigenous leaders say Aboriginal people were not properly consulted in the education legislation’s drafting.
As part of the stalled legislation, the Conservatives say they will provide $1.25 billion over three years for First Nations education beginning in 2016.
In the party’s current election platform, the Harper government says this funding will go toward increasing investment in Aboriginal education by 25 per cent, constructing 41 new schools on-reserve and improvements in another 500 First Nations schools.
The Liberal plan pledges to build upon the Harper government’s plan to invest a total of $2.6 billion over four years in First Nations education.
The party also says it will invest $500 million over three years for infrastructure upgrades in on-reserve schools and an additional $50 million per year to the Post-Secondary Student Support Program, which supports First Nations students attending college and university.
The NDP has perhaps the most ambitious First Nations education plan saying it will invest $4.8 billion over eight years in on-reserve education.
Both the Liberals and NDP say they will also remove the two per cent funding cap on transfers to Indigenous communities, which has been in place since 1996, and has long been a bone of contention amongst First Nations leaders when it comes meeting the needs of a growing and young population.
Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Felix Thomas says it has been a pleasant surprise to see First Nations education get more attention than it usually does in a federal election campaign.
He says aside from needing money to address infrastructure needs for on-reserve K-12 schools, many communities are now struggling more than ever to find funds to help youth attend universities and colleges that are often hundreds of miles away.
“There was never a cap on tuition,” Thomas says. “The universities, since the cap has been in place, tuition fees and living conditions have probably quadrupled in terms of the cost.”
Ken Coates is the director of the International Centre for Northern Governance and Development at the University of Saskatchewan.
He says he is most impressed with the NDP’s First Nations education plan and the Liberal plan is good too but a little more vague on actual numbers.
Coates says if the Harper government is re-elected, don’t expect to see much movement on First Nations education.
“If the Conservatives are re-elected, it is likely to stay in the same pattern as before with more tension and confrontation,” he says.
At the same time, regardless of which of the three main parties is elected on October 19, it is likely the First Nations leadership will have to continue to lobby hard to ensure this key treaty obligation does not fall off the table in Ottawa.
For more information on what the parties are offering in terms of commitments on First Nations education in their platforms, go the Conservative Party website, the Liberal Party website, and the NDP website.