Thanks, Mr. Chair.
I wonder if we could deal with the First Nations University first because there is some urgency around that. As I'm sure all committee members are aware, the federal government announced they would be withdrawing the $7.2 million that currently goes to the First Nations University. I'm bringing this motion before the committee so we can have an opportunity to look at the situation.
There certainly have been some problems with the First Nations University over a number of years. They recently did a significant amount of work to rectify those problems, including being in the process of developing a memorandum of understanding with the University of Regina that would have that university take over the management of their funding. It seems a solution has emerged fairly recently that would enable the First Nations University to continue to function and have some of that accountability for the funding put in place, because the University of Regina--of course, I'm assuming--has a stellar reputation around managing funds.
Part of the challenge we're facing with this is that if no agreement is reached by March 31, those students and faculty will not know their fate. I think most of us are aware that if you don't get early applications into other universities, at this late date it's going to be difficult for those students to get transferred into other universities. Certainly, for the faculty, many universities and colleges are already in the hiring process for the next school year, so it's a pretty urgent situation in terms of looking at the funding.
The second aspect of this, of course, is that we know that first nations students are underrepresented in the numbers who graduate from post-secondary institutions. The First Nations University provides a unique opportunity for students to get education that is supportive, culturally appropriate, and can deal with some of the aftermath of residential schools. A lot of these students would not have been residential school survivors themselves, but they come from family backgrounds where residential schools have been a huge factor.
I had the good fortune to talk to some of the faculty. I was in Saskatchewan a number of months ago, and they were talking about the unique situation, for example, where some of the health care graduates came from their home communities to the First Nations University; they returned to their home communities, and they are models of success in their home communities. They talk about how important that support is at the First Nations University.
So I presented this motion to the committee asking:
That the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs study the circumstances of First Nations University of Canada and call representatives from the FNUniv student association, FNUniv faculty association, Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, University of Regina, Canadian Association of University Teachers and province of Saskatchewan to explain their roles and governance changes that have been made; and that the committee report their findings to the House.
Mr. Chair, I move that motion.