Evidence of meeting #11 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 39th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was women.
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Then I would ask, how could we help address that problem?
Sisters in Spirit Team Lead, Native Women's Association of Canada
Well, that's a very deep question. I suggest that the role of aboriginal people in everyday society, if it were increased, would go a long way in addressing that.
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Okay, thank you.
On the issue of competency and work programs--
Sisters in Spirit Team Lead, Native Women's Association of Canada
There's a prior learning assessment. That is sort of related to what you're talking about, but in different institutions it is more formalized than in others. I feel more work needs to be done in the area to accomplish that.
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Lévis—Bellechasse, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Olsen-Harper, my question is rather general. I would like to know what you think about the quality of the education provided to communities living on-reserve.
Sisters in Spirit Team Lead, Native Women's Association of Canada
Unfortunately, I don't think it's all that great; it needs a lot of improvement, generally speaking. Some reserves are better than others, have a better quality of integrating from the reserve into an urban centre, but many are lagging far behind.
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Lévis—Bellechasse, QC
How would you compare the training provided to aboriginal people living off-reserve with the one provided on-reserve?
Sisters in Spirit Team Lead, Native Women's Association of Canada
Well, I would say that from a reserve perspective, you would not have a post-secondary education available to you. In fact, in many reserves, high school itself would not be available to youngsters.
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Lévis—Bellechasse, QC
So it's mostly the elementary level. How does your association believe the quality of education could be improved on reserves? I think this is a major challenge.
Sisters in Spirit Team Lead, Native Women's Association of Canada
I think that somehow the peer pressure to want to be in school and to do fun, nice things in those grades would go a long way. You need really creative, intuitive instructors or teachers who are child friendly, who love children, to help propel that peer pressure to go the other way, instead of it being a drudgery, and a bore, and “Why do we have to do that?”
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Lévis—Bellechasse, QC
You will maybe value education. You spoke of trades and, I believe, a rather practical orientation. This could be a way of improving the quality of education on reserves and motivating people. Is this what you're saying?
Conservative
Sisters in Spirit Team Lead, Native Women's Association of Canada
Okay, I'll say yes, but it has to be culturally appropriate and view the culture in a very positive light and encourage it.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Colin Mayes
Okay, good answer.
What is the pleasure of the committee now? We can run over, because the witnesses were held up at no fault of their own. Have you exhausted your questions? Can we move on to the next witnesses? What is the pleasure?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Colin Mayes
Mr. Lévesque? Okay, we'll move on.
Thank you very much for your submission. We really do appreciate your taking the time this afternoon to meet with us.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Colin Mayes
Could we come to order, please?
Members, we have our next witnesses. From the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, we have Patrick Brazeau, national chief, and Jerry Peltier, consultant.
Welcome to the committee.
The procedure will be for you to make a presentation, if you would, please, for 10 minutes or close to that. We'll then be forwarding some questions to you.
Thank you very much.
Patrick Brazeau National Chief, Congress of Aboriginal Peoples
Very well. Thank you very much.
Before I get to the presentation, I'd like to say that, unfortunately, we only had English copies made because of a lack of resources for translation. I'm told that they will be on your desks in a couple of days.
Mr. Chairman, let me first thank you and the committee.
National Chief, Congress of Aboriginal Peoples
Let me thank you and the committee for the decision to provide an early focus in this Parliament on aboriginal education. I know that it's a priority of the new government and a great concern for all aboriginal leaders, all of our organizations, and all of our communities.
We don't have a lot of time today, so I want to try to focus on key issues and questions to prompt the start of a new dialogue between us, as aboriginal representatives and as representatives of Canada's formal political structure of government. Before I do that, I have a quick word about the congress, our mandate, and our constituency.
Some of you may hold the view that real first nations people have status cards, belong to Indian Act bands, and are represented by the Assembly of First Nations. This is simply wrong. The congress represents the interests of as many, and perhaps more, first nations people across the country as are able to vote for the people who vote for the AFN's national chief.
Both the AFN and the congress share this constituency. I wish we were more forthright and cooperative in this shared obligation. We respect the AFN's mandate and task, and we merely ask you to respect ours. I invite any of you who have questions about this to address this matter simply and straightforwardly today. Then we can move on to the substance of education.
Some of you may also take the view that the only real Métis in Canada are part of the Métis nation, which is based on the prairies and affiliated with the Métis National Council. Again, that is simply unfounded. The congress includes elected representatives of Métis communities and people in Labrador, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and B.C. We have a protocol with the only land-based Métis in the country, which is in Alberta.
I also invite you to refer to the documentation we have provided as attachments to these speaking notes. They provide an overview of aboriginal peoples, including our constituency. This may also give you a better understanding of the sometimes blunt and subtle distinctions, differences, and boundaries separating aboriginal peoples, even when they are members of the same family.
This may also help you to understand why approaches to aboriginal education now in place are fundamentally flawed. The attachments also provide a wide range of analysis and the recommendations on aboriginal education issues, from pre-K to post-secondary, and lifelong learning. I will return to the highlights of those recommendations in the course of setting what I regard as the key questions this committee should be addressing.
First, it is important to recall our vision. You have heard from other submissions, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, and from numerous studies and reports how all aboriginal people regard education as part of a life-learning and holistic experience that embraces all strands of our existence--not only for K to 12 and post-secondary, but from infancy to old age; not only for scientific or western economic goals, but also for traditional values, spiritual growth, cultural and linguistic survival; and not just one for one type of aboriginal person or group defined arbitrarily by outside criteria, but for all our peoples.
This holistic stance is of no less importance to aboriginal people in urban, rural, and remote areas living off-reserve than for those living within reserve boundaries or in the far north. They are often of even greater importance, since there are few defences against the twin onslaughts of modern Canadian society: assimilation and discrimination.
Let's be honest. Outside of a few off-reserve schools controlled by aboriginal education boards, such as in Winnipeg, the accommodations made for aboriginal students in urban or rural areas are minimal at best, often token, and even more, often entirely absent. So our vision of holistic education, first and foremost, is based on the need to treat our people, our nations, and communities as what they really are, which is part of this country's founding peoples, no less essential to respect and support than the other two founding nations.
Our vision does not pretend that status under the Indian Act makes a difference to educational need, because it does so only indirectly, and in a negative way. Our vision is not to pretend that provinces can, or will, embrace or respond effectively to aboriginal principles about cultural and community education and learning, at least not without clear, strong federal involvement, leadership, and funding--because they won't.
Finally, our vision is to work with you, as parliamentarians, to move Canada to the point where our future as aboriginal peoples is secure, not just economically but spiritually, culturally, and communally. In order to achieve those ends, we have made a variety of specific recommendations.
We recommend a national aboriginal centre for education and training. All aboriginal students, from preschool to adult training, need a national integrated support institution to assist communities, schools, universities, and skills development delivery agencies to provide the best lifelong education possible.
A national centre that bridges the existing divides between preschool, K to 12, post-secondary, and adult training is needed, which is status and residency blind.
We recommend special assistance funding for post-secondary education. Métis and first nations people off-reserve have little or no access to the Department of Indian Affairs $300 million funding for post-secondary support program. Provinces do not support an alternative, and the only resort is hard-pressed, community-funded scholarships. The discrimination must end.
A national assistance fund for off-reserve first nations and Métis people should be introduced, with unconditional federal investment and inducements for provincial, territorial, private, and non-profit sector contributions.
We recommend clear targets for first nations and Métis off-reserve. Educational attainment reaching national standards must be set, and funding should be tied to making those targets achievable.
We recommend equity and skills development and labour market training. Access to skills development is very uneven in this country, especially for non-reserve first nations and Métis peoples outside the prairies. All national aboriginal groups have to be equal partners and decision-makers in accountable programs for adult training. This principle has been upheld by the Federal Court but continues to be largely ignored by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.
We recommend delinking politics from educational expertise. A new balance is needed between expertise in education and training and in accountability to the communities. Too many decisions affecting education and training are being taken for short-term political reasons. Favouritism is all too common. Educational and training authorities are needed that allow communities, through their leaders, to set broad directions and budgets without interfering in areas of expertise or disrupting merit or needs-based access to support programs.
Key questions for this committee. These recommendations highlight where we want to go, but to get there we have to address some core policy questions, questions that go way beyond tinkering with existing program guidelines or funding formulas.
In closing, I would put three questions to this committee. First, I would ask you to frame a statement on what the committee regards as its fiduciary duty and obligations to aboriginal peoples in relation to education and lifelong learning.
Parliament holds its own share of the Crown's broader fiduciary relationship with aboriginal peoples, but simply acknowledging a vague fiduciary duty is of little practical help in judging the merits and directions of proposed legislative or program-based measures. A clear and precise assertion of Parliament's unique obligations would be far more useful.
Secondly, I would invite the committee to investigate the situation of discrimination in federal education programs for aboriginal peoples, and by that, I mean discrimination on the grounds of arbitrary and irrelevant criteria such as status under the Indian Act. I think you will unearth, as we have, that such discrimination is very much at the core of the sad and unacceptable failure of current educational social policies, whether federal or provincial.
Finally, the committee should ask itself and fully debate the role that aboriginal governments and democratic accountability to all those involved can and must play in improving the outcomes we all want to witness.
For the congress, the time has come to end ineffective and arbitrary forms of aboriginal governance. There are church library committees that have more effective accountability and capacity. The time has come to get serious about recognizing aboriginal educational authorities and ensuring they are accountable in a comprehensive way.
Merci, and thank you.
Liberal
Nancy Karetak-Lindell Liberal Nunavut, NU
I have a point of order, Mr. Chair. I just noticed copies of his speech are being distributed to some members and not all. I thought we had a very clear policy, and I know the ITK witness was not allowed to distributed any copies of his presentation because they were only in English.
