Canim Lake Band’s Eliza Archie Memorial School (EAMS) is one of 130 First Nations schools in the province suffering from federal education funding shortages.
First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC) president Tyrone McNeil says Aboriginal and Northern Affairs (ANAC) is holding back 15 per cent of funding to programs that support the First Nations school system in British Columbia, while six years of education jurisdiction negotiations remain at a stalemate.
EAMS principal Barb MacLeod says this is already having a serious impact.
Canim Lake Band (CLB) is one of the 14 negotiating bands in “jurisdiction over education.”
With the lack of a funding agreement for jurisdiction for the 14 bands, including CLB, EAMS is operating with a general funding shortfall, lack of funding for Internet connectivity and 15 per cent holdbacks of pre-approved programs.
MacLeod isn’t sure what program funding is being held back for EAMS because they haven’t yet been informed about it, except though a sudden cancellation of a service.
“We had our connectivity company call us [recently] and ask where to bill, because they no longer bill to the ANAC.
“That’s $172 a month that we haven’t had to pay for before, and connectivity and technology are huge in our schools.”
She adds some of the remote schools have connected classrooms that are entirely dependent on Internet access, but can’t afford it because they are just tiny little schools, so their survival could be in jeopardy.
McNeil says it isn’t clear to him why funds are being cut and withheld.
FNESC has been told that there will be no distinct funding for Internet connectivity, and that the 15 per cent holdback is a “cushion” for ANAC, because the phase 2 federal budget wasn’t passed in Parliament.
McNeil says that “doesn’t make sense”, however, because most programs are signed off on a multi-year deal.
The BC Assembly of First Nations, the First Nations Summit, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and FNESC recently called on the federal government to adequately fund First Nations education.
McNeil says the government of Canada has reneged on six years of funding negotiations that threatens a key jurisdiction initiative.
Last December, when FNESC had expected a resolution was imminent, he says it was “blind-sided” when the government proposed three inadequate funding options.
He explains all three options involve inadequate funding, with First Nations schools facing less money than they currently receive, or give up control of their schools for an inadequate increase.
For the 14 bands negotiating jurisdiction, the government and First Nations are $4 million apart.
Since then, members have been working in vain to get negotiations back on track, and now funding holdbacks are hitting British Columbia’s First Nations schools.
