Editorial: A Nationwide Dream
Canadians get funding for education from their provincial governments where status First Nations people get education funding from the federal government. So why the huge gap? First Nations children are Canadian citizens and deserve the right to education just as any other Canadian child does. Our communities are in such dire need of these funds that we are literally stuck in this vicious cycle. It’s very sad that after 150 years our children are still being told that they are not good enough and that they are undeserving of an education. These children deserve a future and to acquire said future we need to provide them with education. The Canadian government needs to close this funding gap now and we as citizens need to urge them to do so. We need to look at the big picture here and realize that the only difference between First Nations children and any other child in Canada at this point in time, is fair opportunity.
People say that these indigenous children don’t deserve the same funding because their people don’t pay taxes. Let’s take a look at the facts. Aboriginal people pay the same taxes as everyone else, except where section 87 of the Indian Act applies. This act states that “personal property of an Indian or band situated on a reserve is tax exempt”. This means that First Nations people who don’t live on a reserve or shop outside of their reserves are not tax exempt and still pay taxes like anyone else. Education is suppose to be a treaty right yet people still say that First Nations people aren’t part of mainstream society so they shouldn’t deserve the same education funding as everyone else. At some point in time people need to make a decision, they still commemorate their brave ancestors for discovering the americas, educating the “savages” and giving them the gift of being civilized. Those same people are the ones who are saying that indigenous people don’t deserve the funding for education, so make a choice.
Shannen Koostachin, a youth from Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario, was a child who was never able to go to a proper school. Her name brings a smile to my face and tears to my eyes. She wasn’t able to go to a proper school because her school was built on a waste dump and on her first day of kindergarten it got condemned. So instead of building a proper school, the Canadian government brought trailers that they put on top of the old schools Play ground. Shannen was outraged and discouraged but never gave up. She fought tirelessly for a new school but she passed away before she could see her dream realized. The year that Shannen would have graduated, the construction for a new school started. Temporary solutions are out dated. The Canadian government needs to dig deep into the past, confront the truth and give First Nations people what they deserve and what they were promised so many years ago. Shannens story is not an isolated event. Indigenous children all across Canada are experiencing these horrible conditions and no one is doing anything to stop it. We as Canadians need to make Shannens dream a nation wide dream and finally give equal opportunity to indigenous children.
You can not rationalize the thought that a certain group of children are less deserving of an education based on their background and heritage. For every dollar Canadian schools get for a child going to school, a school in the reservation will only get 70 cents. Why ? Because institutionalized racism is still alive and well in Canada. First Nations children need to stop being put at a disadvantage from the time they are born. The federal government needs to seriously amend the Indian Act and seriously reform their budget to be able to give indigenous children a fair shot in life because enough is enough.
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