To the Editor:
Every time any of us travel through Saskatoon's "hood" or Regina's "Scott-Albert" area or similar areas in other cities, we get yet another in-our-face reminder of the short sightedness of the "devolution to band operation of schools" direction taken by successive federal governments starting in the 1960s.
Initially in the 1800s the Canadian government and churches partnered to run residential schools in Canada. Subsequently, the government operated day schools on reserves. Among other things, a principal objective of these schools, both the residential and day schools, was to assimilate First Nations Youths into European values and standards. To make them self-sufficient, self-directing, responsible and contributing members of a society based on European values.
The fact that these schools were havens for abuse is enormously prejudicial and has distracted us from several other important facts: (a) those schools did produce tens of thousands of graduates who had the skills to be self-sufficient, self-directing, responsible and contributing members of society, (b) funds to run those schools were kept away from chiefs and band councilors, and (c) teachers working in those schools were protected from petty politics that would inhibit their ability to practice their profession without fear of reprisal and or frequent termination for simply saying and necessary "no" to their students.
Our federal, provincial and municipal governments and all of us should not let our vision be so clouded in this regard as to lose sight of another related factor. It should be termed the proverbial "elephant in the living room." Increasingly, Canadian employers are looking abroad for skilled employees. We are importing them from around the world. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of First Nations People are right here in our faces - but without the fundamental work and life skills that employers want and jobs require.
From the youngest ages, most Canadian youths learn to see schooling as the route to "the good life" for themselves. On the other hand, First Nations youths and their parents and extended family members do not see schools in the same way. As a result and in spite of heroic efforts by First Nation schools staffs, their school attendance and performance is not good. They grow up to be unskilled, unemployable, dysfunctional and destined to live in poverty with virtually no stake in living by Canadian society's standards and laws. Consequently they cost the federal government as well as provincial and municipal governments vastly disproportionate amounts in policing, incarceration and social assistance resources.
I submit that while the turning over of management (termed "devolution") of on-reserve affairs by the federal government to First Nations was and may remain somewhat justifiable, management of reserve schools by First Nations falls into a different category and should not have been included. It hasn't worked and we must admit it. Our governments must intervene and take over schools on reserves. Even if we, the Canadian tax payers, have little moral conscience and patience in this regard, our simple understanding of economics should move us in this direction. Deal with the problem now or pay astronomically more to deal with it later.
Consider this. What's the cost-benefit difference between not spending what we currently spend through policing, incarceration and social services for one First Nations person versus producing an employable, self-sufficient and able-to-contribute member of society?
Dennis Hall, Saskatoon, SK.
