Put the children first, says Ontario’s Chief Beardy

“Almost day in, day out now for us these days, education remains a priority,” said Ghislain Picard, spokeperson for the Assembly of First Nations. Picard expects the subject to be front and centre when chiefs gather in Halifax in mid-July.

Whether First Nations chiefs are on board with AFN’s May 27 resolution to direct the federal government to scrap Bill C-33 or believe they can move forward with an amended Bill C-33, “we’ve got to put the children first,” said Siksika Nation Chief Vincent Yellow Horn, who also holds the portfolio for education for Treaty 7.

Yellow Horn says Siksika is still considering the possibility of working with an amended Bill C-33, even though the federal government has stalled the First Nations Control of First Nations Education Act.

Re-introducing Bill C-33 is being supported by Saskatchewan’s Meadow Lake Tribal Council and the Battleford Tribal Chiefs.
“It is time that we get Bill C-33 back on track and roll up our sleeves and get to work on developing a regulatory framework together, a framework that Minister (Bernard) Valcourt committed to develop collaboratively,” said Sweetgrass First Nation Chief Lori Whitecalf, who also serves as chair of the Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs.

Picard said the fact that some First Nations are looking at continuing with Bill C-33 despite the AFN’s Chiefs in Assembly’s recent resolution is not about dissention but about “diversity.”  He also says that the AFN is an advocacy organization, which means First Nations make their own decisions.

Ontario Regional Chief Stan Beardy agrees with that assessment.
“What you have is an overarching set of principles based on inherent and treaty rights and depending on where those Nations are located, they work out the logistics and the details what is relevant to them,” he said. “First Nations fully respect regional diversity and each First Nations right to exercise jurisdiction over their education however they want to do it.”

The AFN will continue to move ahead with the mandate it was given at the end of May.

“So what we’re saying is reject, withdraw (Bill C-33) and make that money available now and negotiate on some protocol with the Crown on how this will happen,” said  Beardy. Chiefs said there was too wide a gap between Bill C-33 and the five conditions established for First Nations education in December by the AFN.

Chiefs want to see the $1.9 billion announced in the 2014 federal budget delivered now along with the 4.5 per cent escalator to close the funding gap between on-reserve and off-reserve education.

The AFN is asking the government to establish a new political process.

“We want them to realign, how things should have been done at the outset,” said Picard. “We want to see that this government does things the right way. Failure of that, obviously positions will certainly harden.”

While the AFN continues to work at a national level, Picard expects regional work to continue as well. He says a number of First Nations, including those in British Columbia and the Maritimes, already have education frameworks in place.

“A lot of First Nations are in the process of being at the table negotiating some arrangement on education so the work has been ongoing and the work will continue. Some of them have fully developed their education system based on their inherent right. So we have different stages of development,” said Beardy.
He adds that the AFN is still not clear on the federal government’s intentions.

“Minister (Valcourt) said they were pausing until they heard from the AFN. So I’m not sure exactly what that means. I`m not sure if that means they`re going to wait until the leadership, AFN National Chief, is in place or if the statement that came out of the Chiefs Assembly is adequate for them to get a sense of where the First Nations across Canada stand on this,” he said.

In an email interview with Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, the department would not respond to specific questions but offered only a statement from Andrea Richer, director of communications for the minister, “As we have said all along, this legislation will not proceed without the support of AFN, and we have been clear that we will not invest new money in an education system that does not serve the best interests of First Nations children; funding will only follow real education reforms.”

Since AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo’s resignation May 1, AANDC has had no official contact with AFN regarding First Nations’ education.

“When we look back over 100 years we`ve had education systems imposed on us. I don`t think anybody would say in their right mind that the result of that was good for all of usÖ what the Chiefs are saying today is that if we are going to develop some kind of education system, the First Nations have to play a key role in developing that system to make sure it works for them,” said Beardy.