Our Children Our Future Our Vision - People for Education

Our Children, Our Future, Our Vision
in relation to education show a very disturbing trend where the unacceptable gaps between First
Nations and the Canadian population are widening instead of closing. For example, the gap in
educational achievement between First Nations and Canadians has increased from twice as high
(30% vs. 66%) to three times as high (15% vs. 51%) in the 20 year period from 1981 to 2001. 78 The
same can be said of gap for post-secondary education which increased from 5 times as high (3%
vs. 15%) to over 5 times as high (5% vs. 26%) over the same time period. 79
This likely explains why there is a widening gap between First Nation employment rates and that
of Canadians for the same time period and which now stands at 58% vs. 80%. 80 In other words, the
employment gap between First Nations and Canadians rose from 19% to 22% over 20 years. In a
time when many Canadians are enjoying an increase in the standard of living, we have communities
which are living in conditions so poor that they have declared a state of emergency. Attawapiskat,
Kashechewan, and Fort Albany First Nations have all declared a state of emergency and have been
the subject of numerous media reports about the shocking living conditions of those communities. 81
We have community members living in tents, in sheds without power or heat, and children with
ongoing health problems like skin infections from the lack of water with which to stay clean. 82
Canada’s response has typically been to ignore the situation until the Red Cross got involved in
the Attawapiskat emergency to provide warm clothes and heaters to those living in sheds. The
immediate response by Indian Affairs was to blame the community for allegedly mismanaging its
money and to put them into immediate third party management. 83 Yet, the real numbers show that
the federal government provides a housing allocation that would build less than 2 houses a year
(for a housing need of 300+ homes), assuming none of that money went to renovating the many
houses in need of repair. 84
This is not the first time that these or other First Nation communities have been in the news due
to their poor living conditions or lack of educational opportunities due to chronic underfunding. Attawapiskat
children had been attending a run-down school located next to a contaminated site that
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) refused to remedy. 85 Thus, parents pulled their children
78 Statistics Canada, “A profile of Canada’s North American Indian population with legal Indian status”, (Ottawa: Statistics
Canada, 2004) [Status Profile] at 10. Statistics Canada, “A profile of Canada’s North American Indian population
without legal Indian status”, (Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2004) [Non-status Profile].
79 Ibid.
80 Status profile, supra note 78 at 13.
81 CBC News, “Harper Vows ‘action’ on Attawapiskat” (29 November 2011), online: [Attawapiskat].
82 CBC News, “Kashechewan: Water crisis in Northern Ontario” (9 November 2006), online: . L. Larose, The Star, “Kashechewan a ‘community in crisis’” (7 February
2007), online: .
83 J. Barrera, APTN National News, “Red Cross stepping into Attawapiskat crisis” (24 November 2011), online: . CBC News, “Attawapiskat chief demands
funding, denies accusation” (6 January 2012), online: .
84 C. Vowel, Huffington Post, “Attawapiskat: You Want to Be Shown the Money? Here it Is” (6 December 2011), online:
.
85 First Nation Child and Family Caring Society, “Our Dreams Matter Too: First Nations children’s rights, lives and
education” (Ottawa: FNCFCS, 2011), online: FNCFCS [Our Dreams Matter Too] at 14.
17 Chiefs of Ontario