Evidence of meeting #17 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 terms.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
It was simply the problem with teacher turnover as it relates to having enough staff to do the kinds of educational achievements everybody can do.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Colin Mayes
Be really brief because we're running out of time. I'd just ask you to be concise. We're supposed to finish at 11 o'clock. We have another group coming in.
Director, Aboriginal Students Services Centre, University of Winnipeg
One of the things we're pushing as first nations communities is that we hire aboriginal teachers. Those aboriginal teachers are being taught by the same education system. We're not preparing them.
That's my answer.
Senior Advisor and Negotiator, Education, BC First Nations Leadership Council
We're challenged with teacher turnovers. Number one, we don't have enough first nations teachers, and we're looking for ways of getting more, in terms of strategy. There are teacher training programs across the country and they really deserve added support from the federal government.
We really do have to keep up with matching competitively salary and benefits for professional teachers in our schools. Across Canada, rural and remote areas are challenged anyway. I know in B.C. they are. The non-native schools in rural or remote areas just can't keep teachers because the teachers want to be somewhere else and you have to pay them a little bit more. The situation is even more significant in first nations communities.
On grade 12 certificates and the preparation for university, what was the question there?
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
It was primarily dealing with funding for that interim program, and also with the numbers of people in that program.
Senior Advisor and Negotiator, Education, BC First Nations Leadership Council
I don't have any stats on that; Indian Affairs would have them, and that would be a question to ask. But there's a very large volume of adult learners or young adults who have not completed grade 12. We know that from the stats of those who don't complete. There's a big pool of learners out there, so we're not wanting for students.
Concerning program restrictions, in many cases students going into college prep programs are limited to one year, and I think that's the significant part about the funding. There should be a two-year allocation of funds for those learners. There's a whole lot of catching up to do in terms of skills, and you simply can't do it in one year. In some cases, they're expected to take four courses, and they just burn out right away. They can't maintain the course load because of their having been challenged academically.
Certainly there are large numbers, there's a great potential, and it's one of the areas where there's a real benefit in providing resources because there are so many.
Just as a message about closing the gap, there's a commitment, at least at the first ministers meeting, with the accord, to 10 years. If we're going to close the gap, those kids are now in grade 2, so we're already challenged and we don't have a lot of time. The circumstances haven't changed a lot in the last little while. We really have a lot of work to do if we're going to get positive results for first nations.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Colin Mayes
Thank you. I'd like to thank both of the witnesses for answering the questions so effectively and for giving us both their personal and academic experiences.
Thank you again.
The meeting is adjourned.