Opinion: Indigenous education; don’t forget the 97 per cent – Anishinabek News

June 19, 2026

When Ontario launched its First Nation, Métis, and Inuit (FNMI) Education Policy Framework in 2007, some concerns were expressed that its sole emphasis seemed to be on improving achievement levels for Indigenous students, who represent 3 per cent of K-12 students in the provincial public school system.

The headlined objective was justifiably “to improve education outcomes among Aboriginal students.”

Former Premier of Ontario Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal government introduced the long-overdue and welcome initiative, acknowledging that a 20-40 per cent achievement gap between Indigenous and other students “has been strongly affected by Residential School experiences and has resulted in intergenerational mistrust of the education system.”