LITTLE CURRENT—A workshop detailing a contract providing for the Anishinabek Control of Anishinabek Education (AES), which was completed last August, was held at the Manitoulin Hotel and Conference Centre in Little Current recently. Anishinaabe educators from across the Island and beyond came together to learn the details of the new pact in order to take those back to their home communities for consideration.
The AES represents the culmination of negotiations that have been ongoing for 20 years, but this next year will prove most crucial, as the framework negotiated will need ratification from the individual members of the Anishinabek Nation (Union of Ontario Indians, UOI) to come into effect.
“We need Anishinabek Nation members to come out to the community engagement sessions in the next few months and ask our teams a lot of questions to become informed about the education agreement and the Anishinabek Education System,” said Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Patrick Madahbee. “We encourage you to invite your family and friends to do the same.”
The ratification votes will take place November 28 to December 2 and are described as “an important for asserting First Nation jurisdiction,” pointed out Chief Madahbee, who added that the AES “was first envisioned in 1995 and is now close to becoming a reality.”
The AES will impact up to 37 Anishinabek First Nations in Ontario encompassing 52,000 members and up to 4,000 students on reserves from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12.
The agreement promotes Anishinaabe customs and language while setting recognized education standards that will enable easy transition of students between schools.
The agreement will create a new central Kinoomaadziwin Education Body (KEB) that will have “school board-like powers and will ensure that support funding continues for post-secondary students.”
Through the AES, First Nations will make their own laws for primary, elementary and secondary education, including making their own choices as to how best spend funds and deliver programs to respond to community needs. The AES will ensure that appropriate curriculum exists in First Nations and Ontario schools including a focus on access to high quality education, and language, as well as cultural preservation.
The AES will set aside the education provisions of the Indian Act (IA) which have so far demonstrably failed the First Nations. Under the IA the minister has the power to set education laws and to create and maintain First Nations schools as well as regulating and setting the standards for education, teaching, buildings, equipment, inspection and transportation, among other things.
Under the IA, there are no legislated minimum standards on education that apply to on-reserve schools and what is set follows provincial curriculum and teaching methods.
Although Chief Madahbee notes that some reserves have indicated an interest in returning to the UOI fold after learning the details of the AES, there are those who remain sceptical and are adopting a “wait and see” position.
“We are concerned about the lack of commitment to capital funding,” noted Wikwemikong Chief Duke Peltier, whose community might consider joining the AES, but will need assurances about the funding caps that seem to be included. “The funding is set for 20 years,” noted Chief Peltier. “That is something we are very concerned about.” Chief Peltier’s community has two junior level schools that are long past their prime and in need of replacement or major upgrading—with a price tag ranging at several million dollars.
Community members can learn more about the AES and keep abreast of the latest developments online at sayyestoaes.ca and the Anishinaabek Nation website www.anishinabeknews.ca. A video statement by Chief Madabee can also be found at The Expositor website manitoulin.ca.
