Madam Speaker, I have a number of petitions to present to the House today.
The first petition comes from people in my riding, particularly those connected with Elk Island Catholic Schools, who are raising concern about changes in federal funding around Jordan's principle. They note that first nations children living off-reserve are no longer eligible to receive funding through Jordan's principle at the federal level, per the most recent operational bulletin, which states, “Supports to school boards off-reserve and private schools will be redirected to provincial school boards, or other existing provincial and federally-funded programs.”
Students who accessed funding in previous years to support psycho-educational assessment, educational assistants and program support are no longer eligible to receive these supports, and this means a significant loss of support for Elk Island Catholic off-reserve first nation students. The petitioners contend that the decision to remove these supports is discriminatory to those students who have benefited from Jordan's principle and is out of line with the intent of the principle itself.
The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to review and approve provincial education supports through Jordan's principle to students living off-reserve.