Proposed federal legislation to reform aboriginal education in Canada would disrupt successful made-in-British Columbia programs, says the head of a West Vancouver-based organization focused on First Nations education.
“There’s no doubt some regions need some sort of systems support to make the sort of changes needed,” Tyrone McNeil, president of the First Nations Education Steering Committee, told Business in Vancouver.
“But we say in B.C., we’ve already got a system in place.”
The First Nations Control of Aboriginal Act was tabled on April 10. Currently, on-reserve schools fall under the sole jurisdiction of the Minister of Indian Affairs. That structure has remained unchanged since the dark era of residential schools.
Under the new legislation, First Nations communities would have more control over education and the minister would made decisions in consultation with a council made up of First Nations education professionals. However, the minister would still have the power to approve education standards.
The bill also includes more funding for on-reserve First Nations schools, most of which are run by band councils.
The Assembly of First Nations supports the bill as “a transition” to aboriginal control, but the legislation has been denounced by First Nations leaders across Canada who object to the minister’s continued involvement.
“We don’t need the minister being involved in our education because he has no business being involved in our education other than funding and funding mechanisms,” McNeil said.
On-reserve education in Canada is currently in crisis, says John Richards, a professor at Simon Fraser University’s School of Public Policy who supports the legislation.
Richards recently published a study showing that across Canada, high-school completion rates for First Nations students living off reserve improved between 2006 and 2011. But there was little change for on-reserve students: 58% of young adults living on-reserve have not completed high school, according to the 2011 census.
“There’s this very powerful bit of truth that comes out of the census,” Richards said. “Getting high school is so important in terms of getting a job.”
Compared to other provinces, B.C. has performed much better in improving on-reserve graduation rates, with 43% of young adults living on reserve having completed high school. That’s in large part because of the work of organizations like FNESC, Richards said.
“There’s been a longer tradition in B.C., both in the provincial education ministry and among First Nations leadership to professionalize schools and get better results,” Richards said.
Over the past 20 years, FNESC has developed strong partnerships with the provincial ministries of education and advanced education, McNeil said. FNESC currently certifies on-reserve schools and is working towards a certification system for teachers, which would be transferrable to the provincial K-12 education system.
“All the inroads we’ve made in B.C over the last 20 years have been under our terms because we thought it was important,” McNeil said. “Not because some head Indian Agent in Ottawa told us to do it.”
