Calls for Education

“We call upon the federal, provincial, territorial, and aboriginal governments to develop culturally appropriate early childhood education programs for Aboriginal families.” How great would this be to incorporate programs that teach children with traditional ways of passing down knowledge and applying culturally relevant knowledges. This could help foster a love of learning and can contribute to rebuilding Indigenous culture that was lost through colonization.

Incorporating Indigenous staff as well as Elders can inspire young children to see themselves in these positions. It will also reduce racism within our school systems for Indigenous children. Learning languages that were lost will restore these languages for future generations.

Indigenous ways of teaching will ease the stress on the child and promote an eagerness for lifelong learning.

“We call on the federal governments to draft new Aboriginal education legislation with the full participation and informed consent of Aboriginal peoples. The new legislation would include a commitment to sufficient funding and would include the following principles:

Providing sufficient funding to deteriorate the gaps in educational success, improving educational attainment and success.

The development of culturally appropriate curriculums, preserving Aboriginal languages, and improving on the ability for parental involvement that non-Aboriginal parents get to participate in.

Parental involvement is essential for student success, improving the abilities for Indigenous parents to fully participate in their child’s education will foster greater success for that child. And lest face it, lack of ability to do so when non-Aboriginal parents have this right, is an infringement on the rights of Aboriginal parents and their children.

Applying culturally appropriate ways of teaching and the incorporation of culturally relevant curriculums fosters greater educational outcomes for Indigenous students and improves the relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

Persevering Aboriginal languages should be part of the curriculums and should be available in a widespread of educational systems. The government is responsible for the lost of Indigenous languages, and it is their responsibility to rectify languages to Aboriginal people.

The incorporation of Indigenous ways of teaching should be incorporated in school systems. These are longstanding successful ways of teaching, and can improve the educational outcomes of all children.

“We call on the federal government to prepare and publish annual reports comparing funding for the education of First Nations children on and off reserves, as well as educational and income attainments of Aboriginal peoples of Canada compared with non-Aboriginal people.” Publishing these reports would demonstrate the undeniable fact that the funding for the education of Indigenous people is severally inadequate, and there is no reason for it. Schools on the reserve are federally funded, where as schools off reserves are funded by the province, so why are these schools funded by an individual in Ottawa, who could really care less about a school in Muskoday. Well we should all care. The average funding for a child attended a school on the reserve is roughly $6,800, where as a child attending school less than 15 minutes away in Prince Albert receives 11,000.

“We call upon the federal government to funding to end the backlog of First Nations seeking a post-secondary education.” Additional funding is greatly need to compensate for the gaps among First Nations post-secondary graduates versus non-First Nations graduates. Post-secondary education cost are astronomical and when you live in a system that already promotes poverty attending post-secondary education looks almost impossible. Improvements to post-secondary fund for First Nations students allows for an increase in graduates, less reliance on government monies in the future, improved quality of live, and greater presents in the workplace.

“We call upon the federal government to eliminate the discrepancy in federal education funding for First Nations children being educated in reserves and those First Nations children being educated off reserves.” First Nations children being educated on reserves recieve 30% less than their non-Indigenous counter parts. Direct correlations between educational outcomes include improvements in living standards, satisfaction, and community involvement.

“We call upon the federal government to develop with Aboriginal groups a joint strategy to eliminate educational and employment gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.” There is a underrepresentation of Indigenous individuals educational and employment settings, this is due to the processes of colonization and suppression of Indigenous knowledge systems. Social acceptance, fear of transitioning from rural to urban settings, racism, and exclusion all contribute to the systemic structures that cause these gaps in education and employment. Canada has a responsibility to it’s Indigenous people to close the gaps, and can do this by increasing the presents of Indigenous employees as well as teachers to role model the attainment of higher education. Producing curriculums that reflect on Indigenous experiences for mainstream learners. Establish learning styles that are representative of Indigenous ways of learning. These gaps in education and employment are not just a human rights issue, but also and economical issue as well. Investing in these gaps proves to be a sound investment for Canada when you consider Canada’s economic future. Increased taxation revenue, increased GDP growth, lower employment rates, and a decrease in demand for health and social services.

“We call upon the Government of Canada to reapeal Section 43 of the Criminal Code of Canada.” Which states that every parent, teacher, or person taking the place of a parent is legally justified by law to correct a child in their care by force, as long as the force does not exceed what is deemed to be reasonable. Section 43 became an addition to the Criminal Code in 1892, and had granted caregivers the right to hit, slap, or strike children with objects. January 30th, 2004 the Supreme Court of Canada considered the constitutionality of section 43, but did not put an end to it.