The Manitoba government is stepping up efforts to help indigenous students across the province achieve academic success.
Education and Advanced Learning Minister James Allum this week announced over $1 million in new funding for indigenous students in public schools.
The province will spend $500,000 to provide transition supports for students leaving First Nations schools to attend public schools.
Another $500,000 will increase funding to the Aboriginal Academic Achievement grant, which helps indigenous students with literacy, numeracy and culturally appropriate learning.
The province will also boost funding for the Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative and pilot a model school for First Nations students that incorporates traditional languages and targeted literacy supports. The new budget for those programs is $375,000.
Indigenous students in provincially funded public schools across Manitoba will be eligible to access the funding.
Allum said the funding stems from recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), set up in response to the abuse suffered by Indigenous children and their families as a result of residential schools.
“We are committed to moving forward in the spirit of reconciliation in our schools by making sure that indigenous students have the supports they need to be more successful in school,” said Allum. “The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report makes clear there is an achievement gap for indigenous students across Canada.
“Many indigenous students in our public schools are not experiencing the success that they deserve. We want every student in Manitoba to have the opportunity to excel and we are committed to working with teachers, parents, schools and First Nations partners to see this happen.”
When the TRC closed in June 2015, it issued 94 calls to action, including seven specifically related to education and being more open about indigenous academic achievement.
Manitoba has launched a new website that will report on academic achievement, with data broken down by gender and self-identified indigenous pupils.
“Raising the academic results of our most disadvantaged students is good for our entire province as it will raise the results of all,” said James Wilson, commissioner, Treaty Relations Commission Manitoba.
Flin Flon has seen an increasing number of indigenous students in recent years.
In September 2014, Flin Flon School Division Superintendent Blaine Veitch estimated that nearly 40 per cent of students across the division were of aboriginal descent, compared to 10 to 15 per cent a decade earlier.
With files from a Government of Manitoba news release
