$248M for First Nations schools

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This article was published 15/11/2018 (1982 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The federal government has announced a massive investment in four northern Manitoba First Nations that will make it possible for thousands of children to receive an education in their home communities.

An investment of $248 million will be divided between Bunibonibee Cree Nation, God’s Lake First Nation, Manto Sipi Cree Nation and Wasagamack First Nation, making it one of the largest infrastructure contracts signed between First Nations and Indigenous Services Canada.

Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott made the announcement in Winnipeg on Friday, alongside chiefs of three of the four First Nations.

“It is significant that these schools are being built in some of the most remote and hard to reach First Nations in the country. When they are completed, they will mean a whole new way of education for many students,” Philpott said.

“There will be 2,600 students from these four communities that will have access to modern, state-of-the-art educational facilities that will allow them to get their education in their home communities right up until Grade 12.”

Currently, students from those First Nations have to move throughout Manitoba, hours away from their families and homes, if they want to get a high school education.

As a result of the investment, four new schools will be built and one existing facility will receive significant renovations and upgrades, giving all four communities the ability to educate their children from kindergarten to Grade 12.

“This is critical for remote communities. Children will not have to leave home. They will not have to leave their parents, their grandparents, their aunts and uncles. They will be able to complete their high school education surrounded by the land, surrounded by their loved ones,” Philpott said.

Construction is slated to begin in the spring. The projects are expected to be completed by the summer of 2020.

Significant employment opportunities in the First Nations should be created by the project, in both construction jobs and in the education sector.

Wasagamack Chief Gary Knott stressed his community strives to accomplish what it can with the resources at its disposal.

He characterized the announcement as a day of hope for his people, adding the investment will transform the community.

“We have been waiting for this moment for years, with our children and students cramped into one building for so many years. Our students — early years, middle years and high school students — have been cramped into one building with four portable classrooms since 1976,” he said.

“Our community’s history is we have always tried to do things for ourselves. We initiated a new nursing station by paying for our renovations and extension by arranging our own financing… We need funding and government assistance to make our community more easily accessible.”

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @rk_thorpe