Province shouldn’t fall back on federal funds

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/05/2025 (317 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“Provincial governments are responsible for ensuring equal access to educational services for all students in their publicly funded school boards.”

— Indigenous Services Canada spokesman Eric Head

 

The federal Jordan’s Principle program was created to ensure that First Nations children do not experience gaps, delays or denials in accessing government services, particularly when jurisdictional disputes between federal and provincial or territorial governments popped up.

But it was never meant to be relied upon by provincial governments to address deficiencies in their respective funding responsibilities. Nor was it meant to bankroll frivolous funding requests.

It was established by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, and is named in memory of Jordan River Anderson, a young boy from Norway House Cree Nation in Manitoba who got caught in one of these government jurisdictional disputes.

As noted on the federal government’s website, doctors said two-year-old Jordan could move to a special home for his medical needs, but the federal and provincial governments could not agree on who should pay for his home-based care. As a result, Jordan stayed in the hospital until he passed away at the age of five.

As a result of this principle, the federal government has received thousands of worthy funding requests for specific kids who were in need of help. But as CBC reported, the federal program was also being inundated with funding requests for non-urgent things that had little connection to the program’s intended purpose.

A federal audit of the implementation of Jordan’s Principle in October 2019 by Indigenous Services Canada had already identified the program as a potential drain and a financial risk to the Indigenous Services Canada budget.

The federal government then argued in 2024 in front of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal that requests were being made for things like modelling head shots, gaming consoles, bicycles, international travel, sporting events, and even home renovations.

Last January, according to a CBC report, Jordan’s father condemned “abuse” of the program on social media, saying kids with urgent needs were seeing delays in accessing funds due to misuse. One month later, the federal government announced sweeping changes that were meant to curb abuse of the program, and prevent it from becoming financially unsustainable.

As part of these changes, Indigenous Services Canada told CBC that a legal analysis had prompted it to end funding for school-related requests across the country “unless linked to the specific health, social or education need of the First Nations child.”

As a result, those changes have impacted funding to at least two school divisions in Manitoba.

Earlier this month, Swan Valley School Division announced it was laying off about a third of its educational assistants — equivalent to about 28 full-time positions — after learning that funding through Jordan’s Principle would be ending.

A noted Jordan’s Principle program funding shortfall last November had already impacted Hanover School Division, which laid off 93 educational assistants division-wide.

These layoffs and funding cuts will no doubt have a devastating effect on the educational needs of Indigenous children in our school systems. And while the Brandon School Division has not been affected, we must assume that other school divisions in our region will feel the results of similar financial shortfalls, if they haven’t already.

While it would be easy to pin the blame on the federal government for changing its funding conditions under Jordan’s Principle, it must be said that the federal government is being a responsible steward of the program by ensuring that it is sustainable to meet the needs of deserving children into the future.

Further, the federal government is not wrong to point out that education funding is a provincial responsibility, and that the Manitoba government needs to step in and fulfil its obligations.

We should not blame the leadership of local school divisions for attempting to access a program to help local Indigenous students who need extra help in the public school system. Rather, we should be questioning why it was necessary for Manitoba school divisions to access a federal program to pay for educational assistants and teachers who were hired to meet a critical need in rural communities.

» Matt Goerzen, editor