Indian Affairs won’t support special needs of Down Syndrome twins
By Martha Troian
TORONTO – First Nation control of First Nation education has been a hot topic, and the Mississaugas of New Credit are taking the federal government to a human rights tribunal for not providing adequate special education funding.
For the past four years, the Brantford-area First Nation has been fighting for equitable treatment of twin brothers with Down Syndrome who require special education supports. According to Chief Bryan LaForme, the federal government is providing some funds for bussing and regular provincial tuition, but is refusing to help pay for $80,000 required for special education supports.
“The reason we launched this was to hopefully get some kind of equity around special education, not only for us, but for anyone that’s in our situation. If those boys were living in the non-native community all those services that they’re receiving right now would be provided free,” says Laforme.
The First Nation is paying for most of the cost for special needs supports for the 11-year-old twins, who currently attend a provincial school off-reserve.
Kent Elson, legal counsel representing the First Nation, says the complaint –first lodged with the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 2009 – will be heard by a CHRC tribunal later this year..
“The federal government has raised a number of legal objections and technicalities. Each time they haven’t been successful in trying to have the case shut down. The commission ruled in favour of the First Nation that the case move forward.”
The First Nation claim is on the basis of discrimination pursuant to Section 5 of the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Elson says an investigator from the Canadian Human Rights Commission concluded in his assessment that First Nation children are disadvantaged as compared to non-First Nation children when it comes to education services.
The report also indicated such discrepancies may be indicative of broader systemic issues affecting First Nations communities across Canada.
New Credit’s claim says the federal government’s special education program is not only discriminatory against First Nation children and parents but that children living on-reserve do not receive the quality of special education supports compared to non-First Nation children living off reserve.
There is currently no Indian Act provision for special education for First Nation children on-reserve, services available to all children attending provincial schools. Specialists are often unavailable or very expensive for First Nation communities, but routinely provided by school boards to provincial schools.
The federal government is currently facing a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to respond to claims that it funds on-reserve child welfare agencies an average 22 per cent less than provincial Children’s Aid Societies.
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada says it is committed to ensuring First Nations children have the same access as all Canadians to special education services.
However the department maintains that it is merely a funder, and is not discriminating because it has no control over the provision of services and is not involved in the day-to-day operations of education for First Nations communities.
INAC claims that the New Credit case is not about discrimination on grounds of race and disability but rather the cost of provincial special education and “that any differential treatment as between the federal and provincial governments is based on their constitutional jurisdictions.”
The Special Education Program created by INAC in 2003 includes two streams: services for students with mild to moderate and moderate to profound learning disabilities. Funding allocation is student-specific and based on a number of factors such as community size and remoteness.
As a means of maintaining any surplus funds dedicated for special education, a Special Education Working Group made up of Chiefs of Ontario and Aboriginal Affairs representatives, work together to redistribute any leftover funds to First Nation communities in Ontario who may carry a deficit in this area.
“Rarely do they [First Nations] get their deficit covered but at least they get a little bit of that extra funding,” says Julia Candlish, education coordinator at Chiefs of Ontario. Candish knows the need is much higher than what is given to First Nation communities for special education, in particular for Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation.
As an example, New Credit received $171,123 for special education from INAC for the 07/08 school year, $125,143 of which was used in the community’s elementary school to pay a Special Education Teacher and four Education Assistants on behalf of 49 students. The balance of $45,980 was targeted for students in the secondary school system (off-reserve).
The First Nation says the money received was insufficient to meet the special education needs of Aboriginal children on reserve.