If post-secondary funding goes the way of the Dodo bird ...

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If the current treaty right to post-secondary education goes the way of the Dodo bird, we can start the post-mortem by blaming ourselves. With post-secondary money being misspent by chiefs on the one hand, and a lack of understanding of the treaty right to education federally on the other, the only viable solution to this endangered right is for both the chiefs and the federal government to change their ways and actually support post-secondary education.

Education is a 'treaty right' for First Nations peoples in Canada granted through agreements with the crown - the same crown that Prime Minister Harper turned to for the authority to prorogue parliament (this should remind us of their legitimacy). They are agreements signed on a 'nation-to-nation' basis which ceded land for rights. They are as significant to Canada and its being as the Canadian Constitution.

I have to add here that if you do not like the fact that First Nations people have rights guaranteed through treaties as supported by the supreme court of Canada ... tough. Get over it and stop whining. In the words of Alan Cairns we are, 'Citizens Plus.'

The rumoured plans to off-load post-secondary funding to either a third party or morph them into loans, has no doubt been instigated by improper spending ... and ignorance.

The treaties generally address education as follows (each treaty has minor changes in the language used), “Her Majesty agrees to maintain schools for instruction in such reserves hereby made as to Her Government of Her Dominion of Canada may seem advisable whenever the Indians of the reserve shall desire it.” (Treaty # 3, 1873).

The Supreme Court of Canada has recognized that it is the spirit of the treaties which needs to be interpreted. The Elders in northern Manitoba tell us that the Aboriginal leaders who negotiated the treaties wanted their people to have access to the same level of education as mainstream Canadians, ‘when they shall desire it’. They understood that education was necessary for the survival of the people. In those days the average education level topped out at perhaps grade 4 or 5. Today things are much different. If we follow the spirit of the treaties, in a strict sense, they support the building of not only primary and secondary schools on reserve, but post-secondary schools on reserve at the request of the reserve … every reserve. However, it is worth recognizing the impracticality of building institutions on every reserve and the reality that funding students to attend other universities is a much more cost effective way of fulfilling this treaty right.

The right follows the student.

There are also reasons beyond guaranteed rights to support the current funding system based on addressing societal inequalities. The current post-secondary education programs administered by First Nations education authorities emulate fellowships found at ivy-league institutions like Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Columbia that give full scholarships to deserving disadvantaged students. These institutions have found that by supporting students and providing them with tuition, books and living expenses it gives equity to groups that are denied a level playing field through a wide variety of societal factors (lower socio-economic status, family education levels, remoteness, etc.). It is a system that has proven successful in bringing forward a new level of leadership from within minority populations in the United States. President elect Barack Obama is an example of one such student. In my experience First Nation's post secondary education programs are no less successful and have enabled large numbers of our people to contribute to Canada in ways exponentially above the financial cost of their education. These post-secondary graduates are challenging the status qou and bringing contemporary solutions based thinking into our communities. In these economically complex times these future employees are direly needed.

Not only does Canada have a legal obligation to support First Nations post-secondary students in the country as defined by the treaties in which this country was founded, it also has a moral obligation to re-balance the fiscal and educational imbalances through policy and practice and borrow best-practices from modern democracies globally.

Not all First Nations post-secondary students receive funding however, as competition for scholarships is fierce and our money often finds itself going to other uses. In many First Nations communities, money is taken away from education to fund other services.

While it is important for mainstream Canada to understand treaty rights, our communities must move beyond crying for "more money" and spend what money we have properly. Politicians pandering to the chiefs helps no one. As an example, while visiting the University of Manitoba last week Michael Ignatieff promised to "lift the 2% cap on post-secondary funding for First Nations students." He was met with a resounding applause. Sorry, but the truth of the matter is that there is a significant fiscal surplus in post-secondary spending in Manitoba. Increasing funding to an area that shows a surplus is not smart (it may get some chiefs on your side but is isn't smart).

INAC transfers money yearly to First Nations to support post-secondary students. Many bands accept a set number of students based on their budget ... IF they were to stay in school all year. The fact is that many post-secondary students drop out and in very few communities do they accept students beyond the start of the year. So some communities end up with significant surpluses due to high drop-out rates. Guess where the money goes? This money is rolled into the overall band operating budget ... but shows up as unspent in INAC's eyes.

Not only must the federal government must recognize that the right to a post-secondary education is a treaty right - and a useful one at that - but our First Nations leadership must realize that they must spend ALL education money on education. If we continue to misspend post-secondary money, we cannot be surprised when it is cut back or changed entirely.

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