Mr. Chair, I would like to thank the hon. member for his contribution to the aboriginal affairs committee. He is the newest elected member on our committee, the new guy, but he certainly jumped in with both feet and has made a valuable contribution already.
I was so pleased to be on the Siksika First Nation with him and the chief and council to announce $8.9 million in federal funds toward the new Crowfoot School, which will provide space for 300 students from kindergarten to grade 6. There is great leadership by the first nation, which is certainly matched by our minister and our government.
As the member suggested, this government is committed to ensuring that first nations students receive the same quality education as all other Canadian students. Since we were elected, the government has invested approximately $10 billion for kindergarten to grade 12 education for nearly 110,000 first nations students annually. Over the same period, our government invested approximately $2.5 billion for post-secondary education programming for approximately 22,000 first nations and Inuit students annually.
Additionally, economic action plan 2015 proposes to invest $200 million over five years to support the continuation of the strong schools, successful students initiative to support early literacy programming, services and partnership with provincial school systems, and $12 million over three years to support Indspire for post-secondary scholarships and bursaries for first nations and Inuit students.