Population growth puts strain on education resources

As the Aboriginal population in Canada continues to grow, one result is that resources for First Nations, Metis and Inuit people to access education continue to getting comparatively smaller per person.
Statistics printed in the summer 2013 edition of Aboriginal Insight, a newsletter for the Aboriginal Statistics Program through Statistics Canada revealed that Aboriginal populations have grown by about 27 per cent since 2006.
“The Aboriginal population increased by 61,355 people, or 26.7 per cent between 2006 and 2011, compared with 5.2 per cent for the non-Aboriginal population,” the report reads.
In Ontario, First Nations populations have rapidly risen compared to the rest of the province’s population. The median age of Aboriginal people in Ontario is 30, nearly 10 years younger than the median age of non-Aboriginal people in the province.
One effect of that population growth is an increase in the numbers of Aboriginal people accessing post-secondary education.
“Just generally across Canada, there are more native kids going to school,” said Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, vice provost, Aboriginal initiatives at Lakehead University. “I think the biggest issue around that is the fact that there are not enough resources to accommodate them.”
Wesley-Esquimaux said the gap between education funding for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students is considered to be growing.
According to two AFN reports discussing elementary and secondary schooling and post-secondary education, $1.56 billion is spent on Aboriginal education, with $300 million of that used for post-secondary education funding. Both reports conclude that this is not sufficient due to the two per cent cap put on Aboriginal education funding in 1996.
“Because of the shortfall in funding, they have not taken off the two per cent cap, that is still there,” Wesley-Esquimaux explained.
Barry McLoughlin, director of lifelong learning at Northern Nishnawbe Education Council (NNEC) said one issue with the growing Aboriginal population is the federal government not keeping pace with it.
NNEC, according to its mission statement, is an organization supporting Aboriginal people through creating, “a First Nations education system that enforces academic standards, reinforces cultural identity, and enables learners to contribute with confidence to the well-being of the global community.”
NNEC provides support to secondary school students coming from First Nations communities to Sioux Lookout or Thunder Bay for high school. As well, they provide post-secondary financial support to those who qualify for funding.
McLoughlin said he has observed that provincial schools are working towards having more Aboriginal students attending schools.
“That’s where the future is if they want to keep the schools full, Thunder Bay to Calgary, they want more Aboriginal students in their schools,” said McLoughlin. “What I’ve also observed is the province and the federal government seem to be transferring more and more dollars into provincial schools but doing very little to help support First Nations high schools, whether it be our own Pelican Falls or Dennis Franklin Cromarty.”
He referred to an Aboriginal student going to Queen Elizabeth District High School in Sioux Lookout, Ontario, where the student is getting funded at a much higher rate than if that student went to Pelican Falls.
“It makes no sense if unit funding for that one student is two thirds of what it would be if that student went to a provincial school. It’s really unfair how that works,” McLoughlin said.
He said schools like Pelican Falls First Nation High School, Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School and the high schools in the north that are sponsored by NNEC are restricted by the federal budgets.
“The schools are doing their best they can with a very restrictive budget compared to the provincial schools to prepare students to get on track,” said McLoughlin. “But it may mean it takes two more years to graduate than a regular mainstream student where the funding gaps don’t exist.”