Mr. Speaker, I am going to take advantage of this adjournment debate to say something a little more concrete than the rhetorical games that have been taking up our time in this chamber.
My earlier question concerned the government's duty to provide a constant level of funding for first nations education.
Those who follow my speeches in the House religiously know that my trademark is sticking to the empirical and concrete. I shall continue to do so today.
The media in my riding told us barely a month ago about the dismissal of four teachers and the subsequent sudden resignation of two principals, of the primary and secondary school in a community within my riding. I will refrain from mentioning the name of the community because it is all rather defamatory. I also do not want to do anything to further stigmatize the residents of the community. However, if you search the Internet, it is easy to find the information.
From my subsequent discussions with the band chief in question, I learned that the dismissals of the teachers were the result of the band's budget adjustment plan that was drafted jointly with—and with the approval of—the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in 2011.
This information was brought to my attention on Facebook. I make effective use of this social networking site. People in my community and neighbouring communities know that they can reach me through Facebook.
The parents of these elementary and high school students were quite concerned and naturally contacted me to tell me that the situation was problematic and that their children's school year was in peril. I therefore made the necessary effort to find the cell phone number of the band chief in question. I contacted him when he was in Montreal and we had a good discussion. During the course of that conversation, the chief indicated to me that these teachers were laid off or dismissed—whichever term applies here—as a result of financial recovery measures. I took the chief at his word. He told me that Indian Affairs and Northern Development Canada was involved and that these recovery measures had been approved and were meant to target a deficit that, today, is approaching $20 million. Ultimately, he almost avoided being under federal government supervision. I was rather shocked by what he said.
I believe it is worthwhile to present this matter to the people of Canada and that is what I am doing today.
This situation is now rectified. I would like to point out that these measures were simply abolished and the teachers kept their jobs. The students can therefore still go to school today. However, this situation is worrisome, to say the least, if we consider the draconian nature of the measures being considered and the negative impact they would have on the education of young people living on reserve. Some confrontations resulted from this situation and the police had to intervene. One young person was possibly even injured. It can all be seen on YouTube.
In the member's opinion, is this kind of measure that compromises the academic advancement of young aboriginals consistent with the principles that came from the national panel on first nation elementary and secondary education?