By Mike White

From residential schools to policies based on assimilation, the government of Canada has a poor track record when it comes to aboriginal education.

The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva recently highlighted the grave inequalities between aboriginal peoples and non-aboriginal peoples around the world. Unfortunately, postsecondary education is no exception.

Despite widespread belief that postsecondary education is free for all aboriginal students, an increasing number of aboriginal students are being shut out from pursuing their studies because of a lack of funding and support.

Currently, the government provides financial assistance to status First Nations and Inuit students through the Post-Secondary Student Support Program, which is administered through Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. Although the aboriginal population is the fastest growing in Canada, the increases in funding for the PSSSP have been capped at two percent per year since 1996.

As a result, bands have had to make difficult decisions, such as limiting the number of students that can attend college or university, reduce the amount of funds going to each student, or deny funding for programs that may be more expensive such as law or medicine. In all cases, potential students are finding it increasingly difficult to access postsecondary education and aboriginal communities lose out. It is estimated that between 2001 and 2006, almost 11,000 eligible students were denied funding from the PSSSP, with an additional 2,588 denied in 2007-08 alone.

Education-attainment levels among the aboriginal population are significantly lower than the overall population. According to 2001 census data, only four percent of aboriginal people have achieved a university degree, compared to 15 percent of the total population. Since the funding for the PSSSP has been capped, enrolment of aboriginal people in postsecondary education has steadily decreased.

It is certainly not a lack of aspiration that is preventing aboriginal people from attending college or university. A 2005 survey of First Nations people living on reserves found that 70 percent of young people hope to pursue postsecondary studies. Yet financial barriers are keeping aboriginal peoples out of university and colleges.

In addition, non-status First Nations and Métis students are not eligible to receive funding through the PSSSP and must rely on other sources of funding to attend postsecondary institutions, despite facing similar challenges in accessing postsecondary education as those eligible.

Canada is quickly losing credibility within the international community for its lack of commitment to erasing inequality between aboriginal peoples and other Canadians.

In February 2007, a multi-party parliamentary committee submitted a very comprehensive report entitled “No Higher Priority: Aboriginal Post-Secondary Education in Canada”, which outlined 10 recommendations, including increasing funding for the PSSSP and extending eligibility to non-status First Nations and Métis students. We are now marking the two year-anniversary of the report and yet nothing has been done.

The last federal budget provided little support for aboriginal students, a group especially vulnerable to the economic downturn. It has also been rumoured that Indian and Northern Affairs Canada has been reviewing the Post-Secondary Student Support Program with no external consultations.

At a time when the majority of new jobs require postsecondary education, it is frankly unacceptable for the government to sit back and do nothing. The federal government must act immediately to improve access and participation in higher education in order to close the education-attainment gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people.

Mike White is the chair of the national aboriginal caucus of the Canadian Federation of Students.

See also:
Megan Schellenberg: We must overcome suicide epidemic among aboriginal youth
Celeste McKay: Canada must work with aboriginal women to stop violence
John Lutz: Government policy created the myth of the "lazy Indian"