http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/index/uw-news-action/story.771/title.uwinnipeg-first-to-offer-youth-in-care-tuition-waiversWINNIPEG, MB - When she was 14-years-old, Shirley Delorme Russell and her five siblings were placed in foster care. She would change homes three times in the next several years.  Although she was a bright student, Shirley stopped going to school after graduating from Kelvin High School.“I had no money. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, but I was not really sure what student loans were and the thought of them and getting into debt terrified me,” said Shirley, “It is awkward for a child in care because you can feel you are not really anyone's kid. So at 18 I went out to work.”Young people like Shirley will now be able to achieve their full potential. The University of Winnipeg today launched the Youth In Care Tuition Waiver program to ensure that youth who have grown up in care can dream about and plan for their academic future at UWinnipeg regardless of socio-economic background.  This is the first program of its kind in Manitoba and believed to be unique for a University in Canada. “We have a very deep commitment to addressing the needs of youth who are underrepresented in University classrooms, and we know that children and youth in care face multiple barriers that keep them from pursuing post-secondary learning, including financial hurdles,” said Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, President and Vice-Chancellor, UWinnipeg. “Removing the tuition hurdle dissolves an important barrier, but more importantly, it says to this group of young people who have faced so many challenges that their dreams matter, that they are welcome and they belong here.”UWinnipeg expects to support 10 students per year through its Youth In Care Tuition Waiver program in the initial pilot project stage, beginning September 2012. The Province of Manitoba Authorities will cover all additional living expenses for youth on extensions of care, including housing, textbooks and meal plans, up until age 21 and while they are attending The University of Winnipeg. There are more than 9,500 children and youth in care in Manitoba, the majority are First Nations and Metis, and it is estimated that less than 5% ever pursue a post-secondary education."Children in care often face hardships growing-up that don't end when they turn 18," said Children and Youth Opportunities Minister Kevin Chief. "I want all our children to be able to look forward to a future full of opportunities. With this initiative The University of Winnipeg is setting an important example of looking past hardship to the potential in each young person."“We all strive for better opportunities for our children and children in care should be no different,” said Bernice Cyr, CEO of the Metis Child and Family Services Authority. “The relationship between Child and Family Services, the Province of Manitoba and The University of Winnipeg is an extraordinary example of how in searching for successful outcomes for our children substantial opportunities arise.”“Belief is one of life's most powerful emotions. With that in mind we strongly believe this program will go a long way in realizing dreams,” said Elsie Flett, CEO of the First Nations of Southern Manitoba Child and Family Services Authority.Today, Shirley Delorme Russell is a mother of two and a successful Education and Resource Coordinator with the Louis Riel Institute. She went back to school at the age of 28 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education in a joint University of Winnipeg - Red River College program.“I would have gone straight into University after high school if the help had been there,” she said. “To know that a University believes you have the skills, ability and strength and that if you want to come, we have a spot for you, that's incredible. It is an incredible message of affirmation for young people.”See More

Native teen's posthumous plea for education finds traction in ParliamentNative teen’s posthumous plea for education finds traction in ParliamentShannen Koostachin had a dream: to go to school in a proper building, not a decrepit portable on contaminated soil.The Grade 8 student from Attawapiskat in Northern Ontario journeyed to Ottawa to make her case. When she was rebuffed, she mobilized native and other youths to pressure the government to correct years of unequal funding that had left first-nations children attending schools without libraries, computers and, in some cases, running water.VideoTeaching legacy of residential schools necessary: CommissionOn Monday, politicians in the House of Commons told Shannen’s supporters they had heard her plea and would finally take the first steps toward ensuring that first-nations students receive the same quality of education as other Canadian children.But Shannen was not able to rejoice at the news: She was killed in a car crash in 2010 at the age of 15.“I am here today for my best friend Shannen Koostachin,” 16-year-old Chelsea Edwards said Monday in Ottawa. “She told us we shouldn’t have to beg for equal rights. Shannen inspired young people across Canada to work together. Attawapiskat children started this campaign. Non-native children across Canada joined our fight. Together we are strong.”It was in 2008 that Shannen and two classmates travelled to Ottawa to ask Chuck Strahl, then the Conservative minister of Indian Affairs, to replace the portable. Mr. Strahl explained to the trio that his department could not afford the expense. Shannen was skeptical. She later recalled that, looking around the minister’s richly appointed office, she told him she wished she went to school in surroundings that nice.Back in Attawapiskat, Shannen went on Facebook and other social media to organize a campaign to increase funding for native education. Since 1996, increases in the money provided by Ottawa to reserve schools have been capped at 2 per cent, while the federal money for provincially funded education has been increasing by 6 per cent annually.Eventually, the campaign’s message hit home. In 2009, the government relented and said it would put a new school in Attawapiskat; it is slated to open in 2014. And on Monday, the Conservatives supported an NDP motion calling on the government to provide the funding to put reserve schools on par with non-reserve provincial schools – money that could be written into a budget that is anticipated in the coming weeks.Charlie Angus, the New Democrat whose riding includes Attawapiskat, said improving the quality of education on reserves will be a long-term effort.“We want to see money in the budget, we want to see that funding gap closed,” he said. “We know that it’s going to take some time to get our schools up to standards, but that’s what this commitment is about, that’s what the government is signing on to, and that’s what we expect will be the result.”Shannen’s friends and family were in Ottawa to celebrate the news and the young girl who helped make it happen. Ms. Edwards told reporters she had never seen a real school until she left Attawapiskat to attend high school in Timmins, 300 kilometres to the south.“We want the funding gap closed. We want proper plans for building schools. We want funding for textbooks and libraries. We want clean and comfy schools,” Ms. Edwards said. “Children only have one childhood. This government has wasted the potential of too many first-nations children. It’s time to make things right.”Andrew Koostachin, Shannen’s father, said the vote marked a special moment for the people of Attawapiskat and for all first nations of Canada.“A young girl had a dream that all children of this country deserve safe and comfy schools,” he said, “and when she was denied that dream she came back and said that she wasn’t going to give up until this dream becomes a reality.”See More

Native teen's posthumous plea for education finds traction in ParliamentNative teen’s posthumous plea for education finds traction in ParliamentShannen Koostachin had a dream: to go to school in a proper building, not a decrepit portable on contaminated soil.The Grade 8 student from Attawapiskat in Northern Ontario journeyed to Ottawa to make her case. When she was rebuffed, she mobilized native and other youths to pressure the government to correct years of unequal funding that had left first-nations children attending schools without libraries, computers and, in some cases, running water.VideoTeaching legacy of residential schools necessary: CommissionOn Monday, politicians in the House of Commons told Shannen’s supporters they had heard her plea and would finally take the first steps toward ensuring that first-nations students receive the same quality of education as other Canadian children.But Shannen was not able to rejoice at the news: She was killed in a car crash in 2010 at the age of 15.“I am here today for my best friend Shannen Koostachin,” 16-year-old Chelsea Edwards said Monday in Ottawa. “She told us we shouldn’t have to beg for equal rights. Shannen inspired young people across Canada to work together. Attawapiskat children started this campaign. Non-native children across Canada joined our fight. Together we are strong.”It was in 2008 that Shannen and two classmates travelled to Ottawa to ask Chuck Strahl, then the Conservative minister of Indian Affairs, to replace the portable. Mr. Strahl explained to the trio that his department could not afford the expense. Shannen was skeptical. She later recalled that, looking around the minister’s richly appointed office, she told him she wished she went to school in surroundings that nice.Back in Attawapiskat, Shannen went on Facebook and other social media to organize a campaign to increase funding for native education. Since 1996, increases in the money provided by Ottawa to reserve schools have been capped at 2 per cent, while the federal money for provincially funded education has been increasing by 6 per cent annually.Eventually, the campaign’s message hit home. In 2009, the government relented and said it would put a new school in Attawapiskat; it is slated to open in 2014. And on Monday, the Conservatives supported an NDP motion calling on the government to provide the funding to put reserve schools on par with non-reserve provincial schools – money that could be written into a budget that is anticipated in the coming weeks.Charlie Angus, the New Democrat whose riding includes Attawapiskat, said improving the quality of education on reserves will be a long-term effort.“We want to see money in the budget, we want to see that funding gap closed,” he said. “We know that it’s going to take some time to get our schools up to standards, but that’s what this commitment is about, that’s what the government is signing on to, and that’s what we expect will be the result.”Shannen’s friends and family were in Ottawa to celebrate the news and the young girl who helped make it happen. Ms. Edwards told reporters she had never seen a real school until she left Attawapiskat to attend high school in Timmins, 300 kilometres to the south.“We want the funding gap closed. We want proper plans for building schools. We want funding for textbooks and libraries. We want clean and comfy schools,” Ms. Edwards said. “Children only have one childhood. This government has wasted the potential of too many first-nations children. It’s time to make things right.”Andrew Koostachin, Shannen’s father, said the vote marked a special moment for the people of Attawapiskat and for all first nations of Canada.“A young girl had a dream that all children of this country deserve safe and comfy schools,” he said, “and when she was denied that dream she came back and said that she wasn’t going to give up until this dream becomes a reality.”See More

Tribunal allowing Canada to duck duties to First Nation kids: advocates OTTAWA — A decision to dismiss a landmark attempt to hold the federal government legally responsible for the plight of aboriginal children living on reserve allows Canada to duck its responsibility to a generation of youth, human rights advocates told an Ottawa courtroom Wednesday.A three-day judicial review of that 2011 decision concluded on Wednesday, with First Nations advocates hammering home the argument that was dismissed by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal last year — that the federal government is discriminating against aboriginal children by consistently underfunding child-welfare services on reserves, leading, they contend, to poverty, poor housing, substance abuse and a vast over-representation of aboriginal children in state care."The Canadian Human Rights Act is about fixing the problem," said Human Rights Commission lawyer Philippe Dufresne. "If you don't hold the federal government responsible, the problem will remain.""At the centre of this is kids currently in care — they're in the highest-risk situations, and Canada seems to want to absolve themselves of any public accountability," said Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada.In 2007, the Assembly of First Nations and the Caring Society took their claim against the federal government to the Canadian Human Rights Commission which referred it, after consideration, to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.Two years later, the attorney general, arguing on behalf of the Canadian government, asked the tribunal to dismiss the case.The government argued first that the tribunal didn't have the jurisdiction to hear the case and secondly that, as the federal government funds agencies who deliver services on reserve, and the provinces pay for services off reserve, there is no way — under the Canadian Human Rights Act — to compare two governments who deliver services to two recipients.In 2011, the tribunal chair, Shirish Chotalia, agreed with the government's argument and dismissed the case.Speaking before the court Wednesday on behalf of the government, Jonathan Tarlton, stood by the tribunal's decision to dismiss, saying the Canadian Human Rights Act — which the tribunal is charged with upholding — deals with discrimination in services or in employment.As the federal government says it merely funds services on reserve, while band councils themselves deliver those services, the government contends that the tribunal doesn't have jurisdiction to hear the case because funding is not a service within the meaning of the Canadian Human Rights Act.He said it would be better heard in another venue; he did not say which one.But Blackstock said the government is arguing a technicality because they know they can't win on merits.She pointed to former auditor general Sheila Fraser's reports which consistently confirm Canada's funding arrangements for First Nations child and family services are inequitable."It's a case of discrimination," she said when asked if a human rights complaint was the proper way to tackle the issue. "We had been at the table with the federal government for ten years, showing them report after report about the realities of child-welfare on reserve . . . we got tired of waiting for them to do the right thing so we filed the complaint."Blackstock's counsel and the other complainants are arguing that Chotalia made an error in law when she dismissed the case before hearing any of the main evidence.They contend the issue of jurisdiction is murky because, while it's true that the federal government funds the provision of services on reserve, those services are subject to provincial laws and the entire system is designed by the federal government through the Indian Act, so they cannot shirk their responsibility.The case has critical implications for aboriginal people of all ages because the federal government is responsible for funding health, education, police services and child welfare on reserves, all of which fall under provincial jurisdiction off reserves.Blackstock said if the case is dismissed, "that would basically immunize the government from any discrimination or human rights claim relating to its funding policies and procedures on reserve.""If we're unsuccessful in overturning the tribunal's decision, then the Human Rights Act will fail to apply to First Nations people living on reserve — we'll have a complete human rights vacuum," she warned.But, while Tarlton acknowledged the importance of this case for aboriginal people, he said "it would be problematic if one group of Canadians argued that a different standard should be applied to them.""Access to justice does not mean that you are heard in whatever forum you decide," he said.The complainants are asking Justice Anne Mactavish of the Federal Court to overturn the decision and send the case back to a differently constituted tribunal for a full hearing.The judge said she is mindful that the case concerns the most vulnerable children and will, therefore, attempt to make a speedy decision — but because of the complexities of the case, she could not say exactly when it would come down.See More