First Nations schools could see funding double – StarPhoenix

December 11, 2015

Funding for First Nations schools could more than double if the federal government’s promise, repeated this week before the Assembly of First Nations, is fulfilled, says the chief of the Saskatoon Tribal Council.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s promise to lift the two per cent funding cap for First Nations education, followed by a promise to fully implement the to Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, leads Felix Thomas to infer a promise to close the funding gap between schools on and off First Nations.

“My expectation is we would look for parity in funding as a first step,” he said.

Federally funded on-reserve schools receive about 39 per cent less per child than provincially funded off-reserve schools, a 2013 study commissioned by the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) found.