Attawapiskat

There seems to be a lot of spin-doctoring coming out of Ottawa regarding the new school in Attawapiskat. Many of the statements issued are not complete, both sides are not presented, or a peculiar interpretation is put on the statement.
Some of the more noteworthy of these statements include:

1. Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl said that an unexpected fire in another native community meant having to replace the school at a cost of $13 million” (Toronto Star)

• * Are not all fires “unexpected” or is there another explanation?
• * Is this not the same government that provided $350 million to post-secondary school education?

2. Tony Prudori says, “We have been working with the First Nations to explore alternative funding options. So far, none of the options have proven viable.” (Toronto Star)

• * Who has he been talking to? Not Attawapiskat!
• * Has he heard of tuition agreements? Do not most agreements that Indian Affairs have with School Boards in Ontario have an accommodation charge built in? Why will this not work with on-reserve Education Authorities?
• * Attawapiskat is capable of building the school itself with a tuition agreement in place.

3. Chuck Strahl says that while the situation is not ideal in Attawapiskat, the school is not unsafe or unhealthy. (Toronto Star)

• * Twice this winter pipes have frozen, leaving students nowhere to go but home. (Toronto Star) They don’t get an education, but they are safe and healthy!
• * Educational experts condemn facilities as being totally inadequate for education. (2002 CASP Report)
• * The School Principal says “So poor is the setting for learning, its no wonder some children drop out by grade 8.”

Some other facts:

• * “There’s not another school in the country that is made up entirely of portables with no main building” (C. Angus-Toronto Star)
• * Ontario public school boards association has cited aboriginal learning as a top priority and launched a number of initiatives to try to close the learning gap between native and non-native children.
• * The Auditor General has indicated that it will take Native education 28 years to catch up to non-native education.
• * Attawapiskat is sitting beside one of the richest diamond mines in the Western world. But without an education, the youth of Attawapiskat will not have a chance to participate in this economic opportunity!

And the last words go to an editorial in The Toronto Star on March 11, 2008

“A government that has the money for tax breaks but not for rebuilding and repairing decaying aboriginal schools is a government with a wrong sense of priorities”

Tags: AFNEA, attawapiskat, Attawapiskat School, First Nation Children, Support

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 at 1:12 pm and is filed under Government Reaction, Proposed School. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.