MAKE GOVERNMENT SERVICES EQUAL FOR ALL PEOPLES OF CANADA!
There is an alarming gap between government services provided to Aboriginal people and those provided to non-Aboriginal people with respect to housing, potable water, primary and secondary education, child and family services, health and social programs, and other basic needs, for example:
• More than half of First Nations youth on reserves currently don’t finish high school. Ontario Provincial Elementary schools receive on average $11,000 per student while schools on reserve receive on average $6,000 per student from the Federal government. Over the years, the aboriginal population has increased in numbers while the non-aboriginal population has decreased, and yet Provincial schools have enjoyed an average increase in funding of 4.1% per year since 1996, while their enrollment has steadily declined. This has meant gaps in curriculum, no librarians, no computers in classrooms, no vocational training or school board-like services, and a lack of teachers for those on reserves.
• The $1.2 billion dollar cut which is being proposed to the 2015-16 Aboriginal Affairs budget is almost equal to the entire First Nations elementary and secondary education budget in 2009/2010. The implications in cutting this amount are staggering, it will jeopardize the future of another generation of children.
• In First Nations Communities the average duration of a boil water advisory is more than 2 years long. According to Health Canada, as of Jan. 31, 2013, there were 113 First Nations Communities in Canada under drinking water advisories. In Pikangikum, Ontario almost none of the 2400 residents on the reserve have tap water in their homes. Most people visit one of a few water distribution points in the community, fill up their jugs, and go home with water that usually, but not always, can be consumed without boiling it first. Leslie Young, Global News: Jan 20, 2012; and
• Real per capita transfers from Ottawa to the Provinces for Health and Social Programs were up 40% since 1996 while Federal payments for reserve infrastructure (such as housing) were down 40% over the same period. Housing was no good to begin with. The need has grown and the budgets have shrunk. Paul Wells, Maclean’s Magazine. Fri. Dec 9, 2011; and
Treaties were signed between First Nations and the Government of Canada. People of First Nations should not bear this struggle alone. Non-aboriginal Canadians have a responsibility to ensure that our obligations and duties under the Treaties are upheld by our Government Representatives.
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