Skip to main content

Bill 64 and proposed changes to Education in Manitoba - my question about Indigenous education

On Tuesday March  16, in Question Period, I asked about the implications of Bill 64,the  Education Modernization Act for Indigenous education in Manitoba. My comments and the Premier's response are  below (from Hansard).

Education Modernization Act
Indigenous Reconciliation

Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Madam Speaker, in 309 pages, Bill 64, the new education act, uses the words Indigenous and reconciliation only once; the word First Nation only three times; and the words Métis and Inuit are never used.

      For years, there has been an important partner­ship between the provincial education system and Indigenous education system, and yet it is not adequately de­scribed.

      I ask the Premier to withdraw this bill and to rewrite it to better include the relationship with Indigenous people, to mandate learning about the history, culture and languages of Indigenous peoples, and to address the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Hon. Brian Pallister (Premier): I do sincerely appreciate the member raising the issue of our Indigenous students.

      Our Indigenous young people have been short-changed for years under the system. It needs to improve. It needs to improve markedly. The drop-out rates for Indigenous students are absurdly high, and it's totally unacceptable. We need to take major steps and major actions. A number of these–as the member might have known if he had reviewed–bothered to review the report–were addressed in the report fully.

      And, in fact, in our consultation, there was extensive consultation with Indigenous groups, individuals concerned about making sure that we change our system for the better for Indigenous young people. This is one of the cornerstones of the purpose for these reforms. It is to make sure that we get back to an equality of opportunity in our province, some­thing we have deprived Indigenous people and others of for too long.

      And it's an important motivation–it should be an important motivation for all of us; it most certainly will be for us going forward. And I'd ask the member for River Heights to depart from his leader's absurd arguments and move in a supportive way to improving the quality of education for all of our children in this province.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Comparison between Manitoba and South Dakota shows dramatic impact of Physical Distancing

Manitoba implemented physical distancing measures in mid-March.  South Dakota has still not made physical distancing mandatory.   The result is a dramatic difference in the incidence of covid-19 viral infections between the two jurisdictions.   This graph shows the number of people with Covid-19 infections from March 27 to April 14.  Manitoba ( red line )  started leveling off about April 4 and has seen only a small increase in Covid-19 infections since then.   South Dakota ( blue line )   has seen a dramatic increase in Covid-19 infections since April 4.  Those who are skeptical of the impact of physical distancing in Manitoba should look at this graph! Data are from the Johns Hopkins daily tabulations
18 comments
Read more

Pushing for safe consumption sites and safe supply to reduce overdose deaths

  On Monday June 20th, Thomas Linner of the Manitoba Health Coalition, Arlene Last-Kolb Regional Director of Moms Stop the Harm and Winnipeg City Councillor Sherri Rollins were at the Manitoba Legislature to advocate for better measures to reduce deaths from drug overdoses, most particularly for safe consumption sites and for a safe supply, measures which can reduce overdose deaths.  
Post a Comment
Read more

Dougald Lamont speaks out strongly against the "reprehensible", "legally and morally indefensible" Bill 2

 Early in the morning, just after 3 am, on November 6th, Dougald Lamont spoke at third reading of Bill 2, the Budget Implementation and Statutes Amendment Act.  He spoke strongly against the bill because it attempts to legitimize a historic injustice against children in the care of child and family services.  As  Dougald says this bill is " the betrayal of children, First Nations and the people of this province. " Mr. Dougald  Lamont  (St. Boniface):   These are historic times. This is an  historic budget, for all the wrong reasons.  I was thinking of the Premier's (Mr. Pallister) comments about D-Day today and my relatives who served in combat in the First and Second World War. I had a relative who played for the Blue Bombers and served at D-Day with the Winnipeg Rifles because he was an excellent athlete, he made it quite a long way up the beach.       And had he lived until last year, he might have been one of the veterans the Premier insulted by not showing up at a
1 comment
Read more