When it's convenient for government, watch out! [editorial]

There’s an article in this issue of Windspeaker about the federal government’s attempt to scale back social assistance payments on-reserve to comparable rates of S.A. provided by provincial governments. It made us go, ‘huh?’

Ottawa is fighting on several fronts to not be held to provincial rates in such areas as child welfare and education funding that it seemed such a curious thing to have bureaucrats hell-bent on upholding a policy of parity in the territory of welfare payments. Could it be that it’s just now convenient to hitch a pony to a provincial wagon when that province is slashing costs and reducing outgoings?

And what about that Dalton McGuinty who wants greater control over on-reserve education in Ontario? What’s the end game there? Ottawa underfunds each First Nation child attending school on reserve by a couple of grand each year, and now the premier of the province wants to swoop in and provide a better way. Again… huh?

It seems to us that McGuinty is eyeing a big fat pot of money for administration that can be used to bolster Ontario’s provincial coffers—call us jaded, we don’t care—so don’t pin angel wings and a halo on this guy yet. He seems to want to do an end run around the adequately funded education jurisdiction that many First Nations have been struggling to achieve for many decades, and that’s just not cool or right, or going to work.

Why step in now, we have to ask? This is not the time to muscle out First Nations. Ontario says it does education better than anyone else is doing it now, but it’s still the colonial perspective. It’s still foreign to what we know works best.

Get out of the way great father and let us teach our children. We don’t want another outside government meddling. We require the adequate funds to operate on-reserve schools ourselves.

We know our children do better when they can speak the language of their forefathers, so fund that if you really want to make advances. We know our children do better when what they learn in school relates to what their realities are in life. So fund that if you want to see the gap in education outcomes between Native and non-Native reduced. We know our cultures are important to the identity and success of our children as they develop resiliency and self-confidence. So invest in this and reap the rewards. Smarter, more competent adults that will for decades contribute to a better Canada.

There’s a group of chiefs that are now suing the federal government for hundreds of millions of dollars for underfunding education for all these years. A big grand gesture of frustration, but not really to be taken too seriously. Curious that it comes as the national panel on education ends its cross-country tour and before it delivers its report.

Huh?

We are going into lean times, you can bet your bottom dollar. The belts in Ottawa are getting a big hard pull and they won’t mind delaying any discussion of education funding equity in the courts for the next few decades. So, that’s not where we want to be.

We need a frank, respectful discussion upon whose foundation is the acknowledgment that what we’ve done up to now has failed, and First Nations people know a better way forward.

Windspeaker