The Assembly of First Nations declared the week of Sept. 20 as the National Week of Action on Education. 

The resumption of Parliament and the vote on the long gun registry overshadowed First Nations’ demonstrations, but in the long run the education issue is of greater urgency.

While media were focused on the pointless vote on the gun registry, something of substance was happening in their backyard. At a rally on Parliament Hill, students and their supporters marched and demonstrated from individual First Nations and the First Nations University of Canada. The rally brought out several thousand protesters.

In Manitoba, hundreds came out to protest the deplorable conditions found in many reserve schools.

“We want to work. We want to be educated,” Grand Chief Ron Evans of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs told people at the rally.

The issue is fundamental to the First Nations. Our on-reserve schools are underfunded and receive much less than the equivalent neighbouring schools. The Indian Affairs budget has been limited to a two per cent annual increase since 1996. This modest increase has not kept up with inflation, especially with the rapidly growing First Nations population.

In spite of this obvious shortfall, successive Liberal and Conservative governments have refused to lift the funding cap. The funding gap is growing annually as a result. Soon it will be unsustainable. The current gap in per-student funding between on-reserve Indian children and others in provincial schools is about 30 per cent, so we are not talking about small change.

“This is a critical time in Saskatchewan’s economy, when the workforce is getting older while the young First Nation population matures,” FSIN Chief Guy Lonechild stated in a press release. “A young, educated First Nation population would be an asset and a solution to the province’s labour needs”

The opposition parties on the Hill came out in support of the First Nations protest of funding shortfalls. All three opposition parties questioned the government and demanded something be done.

Lise Zarac, Liberal MP for La Salle-Emard, criticized the Conservatives for not showing any leadership on the issue. That’s a little rich, considering that it was the Liberals who began the funding cap.

Provincial ministers of education came out stating that aboriginal education is a priority, but the federal government has remained quiet.

Constitutionally, the federal government is responsible for “Indians and land reserved for Indians.” However, the ideological position of the federal Conservatives is to reduce the size of government, and they will dump on the provinces anything they can.

However the federal government is not consistent. It preaches restraint and the need to reduce government involvement in people’s lives even as it plans to double the size of the jail population and spend billions on new jail construction. Meanwhile, our students continue to be denied a quality education comparable to the provincial level.

The Conservative government’s tough-on-crime legislation is eliminating the two-for-one credit for time spent in remand. Also, the move to minimum mandatory sentences reduces judges’ ability to take individual circumstances into consideration.

It’s estimated that the government’s “truth in sentencing” law will require spending about $1.8 billion over five years to build 13 more prisons, and then an additional $618 million a year for capital, operational and maintenance costs, according to parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page.

The Conservatives originally claimed that it would cost $90 million over two years. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews rejected Page’s figures, saying he “must be making this up.”

This cavalier response reflects the Conservatives’ attitude toward their tough-on-crime policy. It will be their way or the doorway. They don’t care what the public thinks. These policies appeal to the Miss Grundys and grumpy old men who form their political base.

The end of the two for one credit will have a serious effect on the poor and aboriginals. According to a report from the Justice Department, the tough on crime policies will impact the poor, the illiterate and aboriginals.

The report cites that people awaiting trial in Winnipeg and Whitehorse spend a longer time in pre-trial custody.

The impoverished often can’t raise bail, and are also poorly represented or not represented by lawyers. This results in a higher rate of incarceration for the financially disadvantaged.

In spite of the fact that Canada’s crime rate has actually dropped 15 per cent since 1988, and the government faces a mounting deficit, the Conservatives are stubbornly moving ahead on what is a proven failed policy.

The tough on crime approach has a pitiful record in the United States. In spite of locking up record numbers of individuals, the U.S. crime rate continues to increase and inmates are being released with little or no rehabilitation, and no transition programming.

The emphasis should be on rehabilitation, but the focus now is on revenge. This failed policy only will further alienate the aboriginal population.

Our people need education to get ahead, but the combination of lower education funding for First Nations and the tough on crime approach only will create an intolerable situation. A lack of education leads to despair and frustration.

The Conservatives are creating a self-fulfilling prophesy.

They will fill their jails, but at whose expense?

Doug Cuthand is a columnist with The Saskatoon StarPhoenix, which first printed this article.