11/3/2008

The following letter is from Lise Bastien, Director of the First Nations Education Council regarding the federal government’s underfunding of Quebec’s First Nations schools. Please take a few minutes to read the letter and then click on Awareness Building Campaign link below to sign the online petition. Wela’lioq

October 23, 2008

To All Teachers and Stakeholders and FNEC Member Community Schools

Subject: First Nations School Funding

Dear Sir or Madam:

The First Nations Education Council (FNEC) would like to inform you of its work in First Nations education funding. We believe this file concerns you, who play a crucial role in educating First Nations youth, as well.

We have data that clearly indicate our member communities are not always able to offer working conditions comparable to those in other educational systems—and you deserve no less. Rest assured we are aware this can lead to dissatisfaction and confusion in the relationship between the teachers and administrators in our member communities. Therefore, we feel it is important you be kept up-to-date on the FNEC's efforts at redressing this situation unacceptable to both the teachers and principals at our schools so that we may present a united front.

First Nations schools are funded according to a formula dating back to 1988 that has not been indexed since 1996. The federal government has restricted annual funding increases to a maximum of 2%, an amount that does not correspond to the rising cost of living or the growing student population. While Quebec provincial schools have seen their annual budgets rise by an average of 4.3% from 1996 to 2006, those of First Nations schools were limited to 2% per year; this represents a loss of 157 million dollars. Yet, despite ongoing protests by First Nations across Canada, and in particular by the FNEC, the federal government continues to apply this formula. For the 2008-2009 school year alone, the funding formula resulted in our schools losing 25 million dollars, which corresponds to a drop of over 25% in our purchasing power of 1996.

This formula is completely outdated. It has not been modified to take into account educational advances such as technology or school reform, nor does it include funding to cover school library operating costs, sport and cultural activities or professional development. Furthermore, the funding available for such things as language instruction, curriculum adaptation, school size, remoteness and socioeconomic conditions is wholly inadequate. It comes as no surprise that the aforementioned studies by the FNEC and the joint national AFN-INAC working group reveal that some provincial schools receive up to twice as much funding as our First Nations schools do on average.

In response to pressure by First Nations, the federal government agreed to revise the funding formula in 2003. A joint national AFN-INAC committee on tuition fees was then struck. The committee's report, A Study of Educational Cost Drivers to First Nations Education, was published in April 2006, a few months after the election of the Conservative government. Upon taking power, this government ended the working group's funding and immediately decided to ignore this report, as well as all of the other studies proving the under-funding of First Nations education. Clearly, the government did not want to follow up on its promise to revise the funding formula.

The FNEC had begun a regional study of educational under-funding well before the creation of the national group. In 2001, the FNEC had struck its own tuition fee committee. In 2002, a joint FNEC-INAC (regional office) committee was formed. The joint committee's report, An Analysis of Educational Costs and Tuition Fees: Pre-School, Elementary School and High School Levels, was published in February 2005. In March 2007, it became obvious the federal government would not pay heed to this, or any other, study. Again, it gave no sign that it would respect its commitment to revise educational funding.

Faced with a difficult situation compounded by the clear lack of political will, the FNEC decided to find concrete solutions to continue putting pressure on the federal government. In May 2007, we launched a First Nations education awareness campaign. Then, in the fall of 2007, we established a team to develop a funding formula that would reflect real needs and costs.

It is interesting to note that while the federal government continues to ignore the evidence and shirk its responsibilities, two provincial governments have recently recognized the under-funding of First Nations education: Quebec, in an announcement made by Premier Jean Charest on July 17, 2008, and Ontario, in an announcement made by Michael J. Bryant, the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, on November 30, 2007.

Go to the FNEC website to learn more about us. For more information on the under-funding of First Nations education, visit our website Awareness Building Campaign where you can support our campaign by signing the online petition. If you have any questions, you can contact us by e-mail at info@cepn-fnec.com or by phone at (418) 842-7672.

We would like to thank those of you who have already shown their support to our campaign, as well as those of you who will do so at a later point. Now is the time to take action to safeguard the future of our youth, and now, more than ever, we call on all parents, teachers, principals and other professionals to band together to face this serious issue.

Sincerely,