Education funds upped

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Indian Affairs has allocated an additional $20 million per year to the Indian and Inuit Post-Secondary Student Support Program.

Total funding for the program amounts to $247 million in 1994-95. The additional funds are intended to create opportunites for more students to attend post-secondary schooling.

The program provides financial assistance to registered Indians, both on and off reserves, and Inuit in the pursuit of post-secondary education. It current assists 22,000 students.

However, Aboriginal students are still under-represented in post-secondary schools, despite being one of the fast growing segments of the Canadian population.

The program's goal is to increase the number of Indian and Inuit students attending and graduating from post-secondary schools.

"There is a clear relationship between educational achievement and success in finding and keeping a job," said Indian Affairs Minister Ron Irwin.

"It is this government's urgent goal to increase Indian and Inuit employment and employability," he said.