Local First Nation contingent off to national rally in Ottawa

Nipissing First Nation
News Release

*************************

Nipissing First Nation will be sending a contingent of concerned members to a national rally being held on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday September 23, 2010. The demonstration is being held in response to the under funding of post secondary education that Canada’s First Nations currently receive.

The Post Secondary Student Support Program (PSSSP) provides financial assistance for First Nation students attending post secondary institutions. Currently, the PSSSP is administered through First Nations and First Nations organizations. However, an Internal Audit by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) found deficiencies in the PSSSP. The Audit suggests current tracking outcomes, transparency and overall program management contained some major faults. These findings prompted INAC to explore other options for an alternative delivery of the PSSSP; throughout this process, First Nations have not been included in the effort to seek a solution, despite having successfully administered the PSSSP for decades.

First Nations have shown that they are responsible managers of funds and have the documentation to back it up. Nipissing First Nation has produced approximately 200 graduates from post secondary institutions in the past 10 years, from Trades School, College, University (undergraduate and postgraduate), and Medical School.

Despite the success rates of Nipissing First Nation’s post secondary students, getting them all to a post secondary institute remains a primary concern. “The 2% cap on post secondary education is holding back our Nations’ future! We have students on waiting lists and some have been turned away because we simply can not afford to send all who want to attend post secondary education. The government is reporting a drop in First Nation post secondary education students. The government merely has to do the math.” said Nipissing First Nation Chief Marianna Couchie, referring to the 2% per annum cap on increased funding for post secondary education, implemented in 1997.

Prior to the implementation of the funding cap in 1997, approximately 27,000 Aboriginal students in Canada received financial assistance. In 2006, that number fell to just over 22,000. “The 2% cap and the rising costs of post secondary education is going to result in a drop in enrolment, there simply is not enough funding to meet the demand. We are very limited in how much financial support that we can provide. Many of our students are living in deplorable housing because that is all they can afford.” added Couchie.

The goal of the Ottawa demonstration is to raise awareness to the Government of Canada that changes need to be made to the current PSSSP to increase funding based on the needs of the Aboriginal peoples and such changes should be made with the consultation of the First Nations, not solely to the discretion of INAC.

“We were just at a point where our economic future had promise; we had increasing numbers of post secondary education students enrolled a variety of fields and then the rug was pulled out from underneath us.” said Couchie

Nipissing First Nation services more than 2,000 on and off-reserve citizens and is located between the Municipality of West Nipissing and the City of North Bay. Established before European settlement, Nipissing First Nation is a signatory of the Robinson-Huron Treaty, and a nation of the Union of Ontario Indians.

*************************