----- Original Message -----
From: my CNW
To: Portfolio E-Mail
Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2013 12:43 PM
Subject: Madahbee: Stop education 'experiments'
my CNW
Anishinabek Nation
Transmitted by CNW Group on : October 9, 2013 15:43
Madahbee: Stop education 'experiments'
UOI OFFICES, Oct. 9, 2013 /CNW/ - The government of Canada must stop
experimenting with the lives of First Nations children.
Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Patrick Madahbee says the federal
government's plan to unilaterally push ahead with a First Nations Education Act
looks like the latest in a long list of federal attempts to control the destiny
of First Nations people.
"They have used us like lab rats - sterilized us and starved us, and forced us
to attend schools where we were beaten and abused and thousands of our children
died. When will they learn that they don't know what's best for First Nations?"
Indian Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt said this week that there will be no
additional federal funding for First Nations education until he sees "reform"
of the current system of education delivery on First Nations. The federal
Conservatives are expected to introduce the First Nation Education Act this
fall.
"Instead of investing in our own Anishinabek Education System and our own First
Nations school boards, the federal government is yet again forcing its method
of education on our First Nations," says Madahbee. "The Anishinabek have
invested 19 years in consulting our citizens and education experts to develop a
school system that will make it more likely that our children can succeed in
the classroom.
"During that time the federal government has imposed a 2 per cent funding cap
on education, which has resulted in funding for students attending First
Nations schools being thousands of dollars less than those attending public
schools off reserve. It also means that fewer First Nations students can
pursue post-secondary learning.
"The federal government has to stop experimenting with us, and blaming us that
an education system that they imposed on us is failing our children."
The Grand Council Chief said the imposition of a First Nation Education Act
would contradict the Residential School apology issued by Stephen Harper in the
House of Commons five years ago, as well as the United Nations Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - to which Canada is signatory - and which
says: " Indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their
education systems and institution in a manner appropriate to their cultural
methods of teaching and learning."
The Anishinabek Nation established the Union of Ontario Indians as its
secretariat in 1949. The UOI is a political advocate for 39 member communities
across Ontario, representing approximately 55,000 people. The Union of Ontario
Indians is the oldest political organization in Ontario and can trace its roots
back to the Confederacy of Three Fires, which existed long before European
contact.
SOURCE Anishinabek Nation
For further information:
Marci Becking, Communications Officer
Phone : 1-877-702-5200 Cell : 1-705-494-0735
Email : bec...@anishinabek.ca
www.anishinabek.ca
www.anishinabeknews.ca
#treatiesmatter
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