Evidence of meeting #21 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 students.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:45 a.m.
Bloc
Marc Lemay Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Ms. Jamieson, I have an enormous amount of respect for the work you're doing. My questions are extremely specific; you'll see.
Why don't we hear about your foundation in Quebec? Is it because everything is only in English? If so, why isn't it translated into French? In the notes that were forwarded to us, we see “Blueprint for the Future” and “Rivers to Success”. As far as I know, that's not in French. That's not a criticism; it's a comment.
There are Aboriginal people in Quebec who need help and are not aware of your program. Since I knew you were going to appear before us today, I did some research. I'm sorry to tell you that your foundation isn't known, or is very little known, in Quebec because everything's in English.
What recommendation can we make so that French translations are made of the documents that might concern Quebec or, in any case, so that action taken in Quebec on the subject can be known?
9:45 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation
Thank you very for the question.
I can tell you that the website is available in French and in English. The materials, the applications for scholarships, are available in French as well, as is the annual report. I can tell you, though, that it is a tremendous challenge for us, because it's very expensive. The resources that are available to us enable us to do our materials now, our written materials, in French. We have made that pledge, and we have sought specific funding to do that, but there is much more to be done.
We do receive applications from Quebec. I can't give you the numbers, but I will be happy to after this and communicate with you directly or through the clerk, as you wish. We do receive applications in French. We do provide answers to students' questions and access to a French-speaking individual to assist us in translating and communicating with students, but there is no question that there is more that needs to be done.
The National Aboriginal Achievement Awards themselves have never been held east of Ontario. I intend to change that picture. We are exploring right now the opportunity to do that as early as 2008. It may or may not be possible, but we must reach areas that have been traditionally underserved. We are a national foundation, which means we have an obligation to serve throughout Canada, and I do take that seriously.
Our plan this year, Dr. Tremblay tells me, is to have specific outreach in Quebec occurring this year.
Go ahead, Dr. Tremblay.
9:45 a.m.
Paulette Tremblay Director, Post-Secondary Education, National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation
We've been invited by the first nations education steering committee in Quebec to make presentations to them and provide materials, and we are just waiting for a date, because we've been approached to do so.
9:50 a.m.
Bloc
Marc Lemay Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
I'm going to give you an idea. My question will be very specific. You want concrete things, so I'm going to give you concrete things.
On October 26, from 8:30 a.m. until noon, the theme addressed at the First Nations Socio-Economic Forum, which will be held in Mashteuiatsh, near Roberval, will be education.
Have you been invited? Can you make it so you are invited? All the chiefs of the Quebec First Nations will be there. I think it's important that you be there. I want to say that I don't question the importance of the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, which you head. On the contrary, I want it to expand and to be more present in Quebec, because I know Aboriginal Francophones who should have had access to it. However, the people in the Aboriginal communities in my riding aren't aware of your organization.
So I've told you about the First Nations Socio-Economic Forum.
Second, do you monitor the results of the students to whom you award scholarships? For example, can you tell us whether, in Ontario, for example, you have helped 100 young Aboriginals over the past five yeas to become...?
9:50 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation
Yes.
9:50 a.m.
Bloc
Marc Lemay Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Can you send us those figures?
That's very interesting. I'd really like to get those figures. Here we're talking about postsecondary education, but we know that the drop-out risk among young Aboriginals is higher in Secondary III, that is between 15 and 18 years of age.
I saw your Rivers to Success program. It should be translated into French and filed in Quebec, with the consent of the members of the First Nations of Quebec. It's an extremely important and interesting program. Do you think it could be available in French and distributed to members of the First Nations of Quebec?
9:50 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation
I thank the member for his question.
I've taken note of October 26; that's a couple of days away. We certainly will do our very best to, if not attend, certainly obtain some information about this event.
I'd also say to the member that it is a priority of mine to do outreach. We've gone from two years ago having no materials in French to now insisting that all our public documents, and certainly our programs, are translated into French. The Rivers to Success program is in its formative stage, but I can commit to the member that the materials we make available on that will be in French. We welcome the opportunity to work with the member and any first nations that he would like to recommend to contact us. We would be very happy to do that.
Finally, I will undertake to provide you with the statistics that are specific to the Quebec region.
Are any of the career modules that we have produced thus far in French? I would like to make them available in French. Again, it's a matter of resources, which you may wish to put forward in the committee's report, that we be fully funded to ensure that all of our programs are available throughout the country. We are doing so as much as we can.
We're also doing specific outreach in the Arctic to ensure our services are available to Inuit youth.
9:50 a.m.
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much for your presentation.
I'm going to go back to the speaking notes from October 19, from the departments that came before the committee. They're actually quoting from our next guest that their feeling is that one of the main reasons for the lack of success at the post-secondary level is the capacity of the K-12 system to get graduates into post-secondary education. There are a couple of issues for me around that.
One issue is that what we've heard from first nations, Métis, and Inuit from coast to coast to coast is that they already have people who have the ability to get into post-secondary, whether it's trades or vocational, technical or university, but they aren't able to do so, or when they do get in, they are unable to complete, for a variety of reasons. If we increase the capacity of the K-12 system and pump more students into a system that already seems like it can't accommodate everybody who is interested and willing....
I wonder if you could comment on the number of students that you're not able to serve and what's missing in the post-secondary system to support students once they're in the system.
9:55 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation
Say the last part again.
9:55 a.m.
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
What is missing in the post-secondary system to support students once they get into that system? I know that students drop out and are unable to complete, or they take longer to complete.
9:55 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation
Thank you for the question.
I can point to last year, when we received applications from 1,129 people--
9:55 a.m.
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
Sorry, Ms. Jamieson, I know those are the numbers you received. But do you have any sense of the students who may not even apply?
9:55 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation
No.
9:55 a.m.
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
Because I think that's the other issue, that we lose students who either don't know about it or--
9:55 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation
I have a sense, but I can't give you any authoritative statistics on it. There are many more than the number of applications we receive. I would not be overstating it to say that there are thousands of first nations, Métis, and Inuit young people who would like post-secondary assistance, whether it's in trades or at university or colleges, who are unable to access it. There is no question in my mind.
There are many thousands of young people who need assistance who have dropped out of high school, and that's the biggest challenge. That's the biggest labour force challenge that Canada has--first nations, Métis, and Inuit youth who don't finish high school.
I can tell you, also, that specifically the barriers.... Let me share one other statistic that Dr. Tremblay has reminded me of. When I toured the western Arctic last year to ensure awareness and equal access to the foundation's programs for the Inuit in that area, I heard over and over again that there needs to be support for one-year programs, and there is not. It does not exist. So young people are falling through the cracks there.
Our current programs provide assistance for two years plus. They were asking me to revise our own programs to pick up the one-year, as well. There is no question that that needs to be done, and there is no question that there is both an appetite for that and support among our private sector sponsors to help us with more opportunities for the one-year and less-than-one-year trades and bursaries.
We need to tap into this support, and we are working as fast as we can to come up with a plan to do that. But I need the federal government, as well, willing to be at the table to work with us on that.
What happens to them when they get into post-secondary? I'll share this with you, and again, I can provide this to the committee. The barriers they encountered when completing their program in the health area, they said, were financial strain and pressures. That was number one. Number two was being away from home, family, and friends. Number three was family strain and balancing demands. Number four was academic pressures. Number five was the necessity to work. Number six was medical issues and health and wellness, and finally, there were cultural barriers.
What do they say helped them get through? Support of family and friends; financial support; institutional support, such as dedicated faculty, teachers, and staff; aboriginal access programs; aboriginal programs and services; peer networks; study groups; and mentors. And again, I'm very happy to make this study available in its entirety to the committee.
10 a.m.
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
If you could, I think that would be very helpful, because it has some concrete information.
10 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation
Yes.
10 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Colin Mayes
Thank you.
I'm going to move on, if you don't mind, to the government side so we have an opportunity for each one of the parties to question.
We'll go to Mr. Bruinooge.
October 24th, 2006 / 10 a.m.
Conservative
Rod Bruinooge Conservative Winnipeg South, MB
Thank you, Madam Jamieson and Madam Tremblay, for your presentation. It was very informative, and I just want to thank you for your very positive outlook on life and the approach you're taking to this challenging issue.
It seems to me that you have a keen sense of affiliating your organization with the business community, and I think that has also likely shaped many of the principles under which you operate your foundation in terms of being efficient and operating from that perspective. I think that's a safe assumption, at least based on what I've heard from you.
My questioning will likely go along the lines of where, perhaps, we are in terms of post-secondary funding for first nations students. At the department level, we had some witnesses in our previous meeting, actually, from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, and we asked them some questions relating to the parcel of funds that had been allocated, on an annual basis, towards funding first nations students at the post-secondary level. For that roughly $300 million, unfortunately, there is nowhere near the amount of tracking that you have in your successful organization, although what you have is quite small relative to that amount.
My question to you would be how your organization compares in the sense of providing tracking data. And what is your sense of where the current funding is right now that is being delivered by the federal government to first nations? How do your two organizations compare when a student applies for funding?
