The Remote Location On First Nations Communities

Education has been a topic of controversy for many years now, and will continue to be for years to come. The modern American society is best defined by its education. A good part of the average person’s life is spent at school, going to school, and paying for school. However, even though education is so obviously very important, there are many groups in America that are getting shorted. The Native Americans are a key group that has struggled the most. The largest obstacle they face is lack of proper education. The standard educational practices being used for the instruction of Native American peoples are not effective. There are many pieces to this road-block, and many solutions. This can be rectified by having more culturally

With the world renown hallmark as the ‘lucky country’, it can be difficult to comprehend how the very people we have to thank for the prosperous land on which we live, are amongst the most disadvantaged in the world, rivalling many from developing countries. The dispossession of land, displacement of Australia’s first people and unremitting discrimination since European settlement, has given rise to intergenerational disadvantage in areas such as education, employment and health (***). Whilst the three areas are intertwined, education is unmistakably a quintessential vehicle for building resilience and improving socioeconomic outcomes for Indigenous Australians(***). Teachers and schools alike play a key role in acknowledging and addressing past and present injustices through:

The First Nations University of Canada will acquire and expand its base of knowledge and understanding in the best interests of First Nations and for the benefit of society by providing opportunities of quality bi-lingual and bi-cultural education under the mandate and control of the First Nations of Saskatchewan.

Education looked remarkably different than the Education that takes place today in Canada’s schools. Before European contact, “Indigenous peoples in North America had a highly developed education system” (Neegan, 2005, p. 4). Their education was based on experiential and immersion learning in the community and in nature. The whole community was responsible for teaching the younger people through the sharing of knowledge and resources (Neegan, 2004). Respect for the environment and the land was intricately woven into all forms of learning, as the land is the center of their livelihood

Indian Residential Schools has been a major contributing factor towards the mistreatment and decreased standard of living for the First Nations people of Canada. Originally founded in the 1840’s and the last to close in 1996 the goal of Residential Schools was to assimilate First Nations people into Canadian society. The assimilation process consisted of the forced attendance (by Canadian law) for every Native, Metis, and Inuit child to attend the “boarding” schools. Residential Schools were ran by Christian, Catholic, and Anglican churches, the schools were also funded by the Canadian government’s Indian Affairs. Treatment students received while attending the schools was unbearable for the young children. After being taken and

The program was launched in 1989, when the Tribal Council of the First Nations community, Meadow Lake, approached the University of Victoria seeking to collaborate in the development and community-based delivery of an education program (Ball, 2004). The Elders wanted a curriculum from a university-accredited institution that was still grounded in their own cultures. They also wanted input from representatives of their community. A pilot program evolved from these initial discussions, focusing on the principles of empowerment. A generative curriculum was developed to deliver information in a culturally appropriate fashion. In order to preserve culture, certain activities were conducted on an ongoing manner. These activities included Elder involvement, as the Elders are the keepers of knowledge, language maintenance and cultural practices. The program was a great success – while the national completion rate among First Nations students in diploma level postsecondary programs in Canada in below 40%, the FNPP obtained a 75% completion rate (Ball, 2014). The National Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Ovide Mercredi, once said “When you heal a child, you heal a family; when you heal a family you heal a community; when you heal a community, you heal a nation (Richardson and Blanchet-Cohen, 2000). The FNPP embodies this message, using education as a tool for the Aboriginal

Despite the challenges and changes that still need to be made to insure no Aboriginal Child is left behind, there are changes currently being made that show the benefits of a culturally responsive program and bring hope to the future of Aboriginal early childhood education. The Aboriginal Head Start early childhood education program is slowly expanding. As well other programs have developed, like Awasisk Cultural Development Program in Prince George, British Columbia that uses Metis curriculum and Mannawasis AHS programs that teaches both Cree and English (Nguyen, 2011). I believe that these programs are the foundation for a future where all Aboriginal children have an opportunity to be educated through their cultural traditions and language.

The Aboriginal peoples of Canada had gone through many situations to get to where they are today with their education system. Pain, sorrow, doubt, and hope are all feelings brought to mind when thinking about the history and the future of Aboriginal education. By taking a look at the past, anyone can see that the right to education for Aboriginal peoples has been fought about as early as the 1870s. This is still is a pressing issue today. Elder teachings, residential, reserve and post-secondary schools have all been concerning events of the past as well as the present. Though education has improved for the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, there are still many concerns and needs of reconciliation for the past to improve the future.

The Canadian government is biased against the Aboriginal population and uses less funding towards them. Perry Bellegarde, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, stressed that “more funding is desperately needed for equal education on reserves, [because] the government spends 3 000 dollars less per student [in a reserve] than the national average”. Many Aboriginal people in Canada, including Bellegarde, feel as if the government is treating their population as they did when residential schools were still running. The Canadian government does not treat the Aboriginal and the non-Aboriginal population equally. They are spending a significantly lower amount of money for the education of Aboriginal youth. They are oppressing the Aboriginal population but many of them are taking a stand for their rights and demanding more. There have been many lawsuits involving members of the Aboriginal population and the Canadian government, but the largest one is the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA). This agreement was made after many large scale campaigns were done and a class-action lawsuit was filed, in the 1980’s and 1990’s, to pressure the Canadian government to recognize the abuses of the residential school system and to gain compensation. The class-action lawsuit ended with a multi-billion dollar agreement to help improve the conditions of

Perhaps it is no surprise that, not providing libraries etc. within the Attawapiskat temporary schools due to poor funding, leads Indigenous student to have a low academic achievement. Therefore, poor funding and under resources of schools on reserves like Attawapiskat is another direct reason why Indigenous students are more likely not to finish high school in comparison to non-indigenous (Pidgeon, 2015). Hence, their inability to finish high school will affect their ability to obtain greater life chances of employment.

For generations, indigenous people have been facing social injustice in regards to wellbeing, lifestyle and their education. While things have changed over time there still is inequalities and discrimination towards the indigenous peoples. There is an unbalance in education system as the financial demands and locations are unattainable to the indigenous communities. This paper focuses on the root cause of aboriginal people and their education systems, more specifically reasons why they receive such low levels of educations, i.e. Many grow up without achieving schooling at a college or university level. It will also address their schooling systems and what it entails, such school funding and government assistance. Lastly, this paper will look at the treaties and agreements that were originally placed and

In the Indigenous community, when the community is faced with a trauma, it takes seven generations for the community to heal (Trimble, 2015). People may underestimate how oppressed and how much suffering the Indigenous communities had to struggle with, and continue to struggle with these issues today. We may underestimate how severe the situation is because many of us were not taught much about the impact of colonization on the Indigenous communities in school. There are many myths people may have concerning Indigenous life experiences, particularly schooling. To address these myths, I would begin by giving a brief history of residential schools. I would then analyze how residential schools have impacted the indigenous community and how they continue to affect them today. I would also mention the current issues children on reserves are facing today regarding school. Lastly, I would mention some of the progress that has been made. I will use the work of Sefa Dei to demonstrate the importance of community in education regarding the Indigenous people.

The legacy of historical globalization on the Aboriginal community is still a very much relevant issue in Canada. Although historical globalization interconnected different countries and nations, it gave birth to imperialism and colonialism. As a result of this, legislations such as the Indian Act was implemented. The Indian Act was passed by the Canadian government in 1876 in an attempt to assimilate First Nations into mainstream society. In an attempt to erase the “Indian” in the First Nations, first Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald implemented a policy of “aggressive civilization” which led to publicly funded Indian Residential Schools. At the time, anyone from the ages five to fifteen years old were forced to go to a Residential School. A total of one hundred and fifty thousand children was sent to these school’s, however, the negative impact wasn’t limited to these people. The effects of Residential school and Indian Act still resonate for the generations that followed. The systems that the Canadian government use to assimilate the First Nations such as the Indian Act and Residential schools left a huge impact on the Aboriginal community. Social problems, such as abuse, alcoholism, suicide and poverty are only a few of the issues that sprouted from the effects of historical globalization. The Canadian government’s effort in trying to reconcile with the First Nation can be seen through the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the amendment of the Indian Act, and the Truth

The school systems and the courses being taught are not up to proper standards for First Nations people. The author, Carr-Stewart writes the article “A Treaty Right to Education” to prove to her audience the schooling systems need to change and have been inadequate for many First Nations people. The author shows very strong arguments throughout her article. A main argument presented is that First Nations children deserve the proper education and teaching as non-First Nations children whom are provincially funded versus First Nations children’s education, which is federally funded. She argues that assimilation is a technique used by the crown in order to achieve their goals. The crown is slow and unwilling to help First Nations people in most cases, while this causes tension between the relationship of the crown and First Nations people. Lastly, another argument Carr-Stewart presents is a claim that the schools on reserves are inadequate and lack many fundamental pieces to a proper child’s education including: proper course material, funding, buildings and teachers. Carr-Stewart shows various strengths and weaknesses throughout her article “A Treaty Right to Education”. Repetition and unnecessary content is found within Carr-Stewart’s article. She shows repetition within her quotations and while adding unimportant information; she leaves out several important ideas that could have improved her article. While the article by

The quality of education provided for the First Nations by the federal government was of inferior quality than those given by the provinces. Again, the Canadian government seemed like they created another loophole, not to oblige their agreements with the First Nations. Reserve Schools and Band operated schools are paths for decolonisation of the First Nations. By limiting the resources to operate and maintain these schools, it seems at least from my point of view that the federal government is not in favour of decolonisation or in favour of the Indigenous people reclaiming their cultural identity and