Mr. Speaker, I am rising on a question that I raised in the House in September with regard to first nations education. There were two essential parts to my question: one was about the 2% funding cap and the other one was about the continuing two tier education system that exists in first nations communities.
I want to refer the House to the 2007 report of the standing committee called “No Higher Priority: Aboriginal Post-Secondary Education in Canada”. I want to talk about a couple of things in that report.
The introduction says:
It is rare to find unanimity on any topic in the realm of public policy. When it comes to Aboriginal education, however, the now overwhelming consensus view of experts and officials within and outside government...defies the rule. All agree, quite simply, that improving educational outcomes is absolutely critical to the future of individual Aboriginal learners, their families and children, their communities, and the broader Canadian society as a whole.
On that note, in an article by Paul Wells on November 12, 2010, he reminded us that by investing in education, according to the Centre for the Study of Living Standards, the total tax revenue would increase by $3.5 billion and government spending would decrease by $14.2 billion.
The standing committee report also highlighted the fact that there have been many reports and many studies on education, including post-secondary education. On page 8 of the report it says, “There were 6,000 reports on First Nations education in this country”. We can see that education has literally been studied ad nauseam. The challenges and problems are well-known.
However, on the government's website is a request for a proposal on public engagement, planning, development, delivery and expertise of services. This RFP is for $500,000 to $1 million. It is asking for proponents to engage in public engagement planning, development, delivery and expertise services in support of INAC education programs with an emphasis on aboriginal youth. This is to increase awareness of education opportunities and programs, obtain perspectives on aboriginal education, and gain a better understanding of the barriers to both access to education and to achieving successful educational outcomes.
Since we already have one of many reports from the standing committee that makes a series of recommendations to the government about how to improve post-secondary education for first nations in this country and we now see up to $1 million being spent on a further study, my question is three-fold. Were first nations included in the development of the terms of reference for this request for proposal for up to $1 million? If they were included, how were they included? If they were not included in the development of this proposal, why were they not included?