Mr. Speaker, on October 25, I had the privilege of attending a public meeting on education in Manawan. In the Atikamekw community, the high school dropout rate is 48% and very few students earn a diploma. The situation is not much better at the elementary level: the school is falling apart and poses a risk to public health. It even falls short of the standards for schools we build in Afghanistan.
What is the government doing to fix the problem? It is cutting $430,000 from education in Manawan. The meeting was an opportunity to take stock of the situation and to hear what the Atikamekw are hoping for. Our conclusion: enough is enough.