According to CTV News, Harper was in Morocco where he announced Canada’s support for Morocco's education system. "Canada will support the North African nation's education system by bolstering two reform projects. Canada will back an initiative to improve basic education for boys and girls by training 9,000 school principals in effective ways to make schools more responsive and accountable to local needs."
"Canada will also lend its help to a program that aims to boost the employment rate of graduates from skills training programs from 55 per cent to 75 per cent."
"Canada's support will secure a better future for Morocco's children and youth and strengthen sustainable economic growth in the country," said a statement from the Prime Minister's Office." The news article can be found at this link: http://news.sympatico.ctv.ca/home/harper_says_former_tunisian_president_not_welcome/b00037c5
Hmm...has anyone told Harper lately that he should take a look in his backyard before he announces his good deeds to the world? If not... Harper, take a look in your own backyard!!! The First Nations education system in Canada is severely underfunded and our children are suffering as a result. Harper refuses to address First Nations education in Canada in consultation with First Nations people at the grassroots level but he will support the education of people in other countries who are in need of social and economic development. I am all for supporting other countries who need our assistance; however, Harper should also be investing in the education of First Nations children in Canada.
The federal government of Canada underfunds education for First Nations children in Canada by approximately 20% - 40% in comparison to provincial education funds provided for non-Aboriginal children. First Nations children in Canada live in poverty (third world conditions) and need an adequate education to rise above poverty. Numerous reports, like the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, have stated these facts.
The former Prime Minister Paul Martin and his sidekick, the former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), Phil Fontaine advised a student body at Ryerson University on January 25, 2011 that the First Nations education system was underfunded by 20-40%. Why Paul Martin and Phil Fontaine did not do something about our children’s poor education system and governance systems when they were in office is beyond me. Why are they discussing governance and education now? Here is the article where Martin and Fontaine were quoted: http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110126/martin-fontaine-110126/20110126/?hub=TorontoNewHome.
I am not a fan of Harper but Paul Martin and Phil Fontaine, discussing Canada's inactions on First Nations education issues is like the “pot calling the kettle black”. The grassroots people are slowly getting more educated and the more educated we get, the more we will start speaking up about their “Aboriginal” initiatives when they were in office. Paul Martin and Phil Fontaine did absolutely nothing for us as a collective when they were in office except make the Aboriginal industry richer through their initiatives like the Kelowna Accord. Like Harper, they had the opportunity to address the education and poverty of First Nations and did nothing.
The Kelowna Accord is nothing but a waste of the taxpayers’ money. The Kelowna Accord is a bunch of promises to promise to negotiate. That is it and nothing more. There is nothing in the Kelowna Accord to implement. It would take millions of dollars and several national roundtables over several years to actually figure out how to implement that one-size-fits-all initiative. It would never work because all First Nations are different. It would be like trying to fit one million people into a box of cereal. Of course, the millions of dollars to implement the Kelowna Accord would have to be given to the Office of the National Chief of the AFN who would then “co-ordinate” the national roundtables and give some of the money to the Aboriginal industry to figure out how to implement the Accord. The grassroots people in the meantime would not see any of this money and continue to live in poverty as they are now. The status quo would remain. Same old...same old...blah...blah...blah...”and the wheels on the bus go round and round...round and round...round and round”.
Why is Harper not investing the funds to address this 20-40% gap in First Nations education funding? The answer is simple: he wants to assimilate First Nations people and the logical way to accomplish this goal is to underfund services and programs for First Nations so that First Nations families will have no choice but to leave their homes and culture behind and move to the city if they want their children to receive adequate services. Harper is effectively accomplishing his goal of assimilation. First Nations families are moving to the city and the urban Aboriginal population is increasing every year. If we do not stand up and do something about it as a collective, First Nations people will become a chapter in the history books where we will be known as a society that once existed.
Harper refuses to invest funds into First Nations education even though we all know that he should be increasing our education funding by 20-40%. All he and the National Chief of the AFN have planned for our children is to parade a panel of experts in education around the country to re-examine what we already know. In the meantime, our children are still not receiving adequate education services in comparison to non-aboriginal children in provincial schools. I guess as long as the financial needs of the Aboriginal industry are being met, the needs of our children are of no concern.
The logical solution, in my personal political opinion, is for Harper to do the following:
1) Immediately increase the funding for First Nations education by 20-40% so that our children receive better education services. Put your money where your mouth is!
2) Do not reinvent the wheel. Use the education reports that have already been prepared and just do it.
3) Use many panels of experts/teachers/parents to implement those reports. Six months is an unreasonable timeframe for one panel of experts to adequately examine the education system of 630 First Nations communities.
4) Address all of the issues of poverty in First Nations using a wholistic approach. Stop using the piecemeal approach that is taking place by the federal government thus far. The saying “you can’t have one without the other” is true.
As a side note: Paul Martin did nothing for us when he was Prime Minister and there is not any amount of public speaking events that can make up for the tremendous amount of disservice that he did to our people when he was Prime Minister. I might even do my doctorate in law on his re-victimization of First Nations people when he was Prime Minister of Canada.
WHO IS WATCHING OUT FOR YOU AND OUR CHILDREN?
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