New partnership aims to ensure equal access to supports for First Nations students in Winnipeg

Winnipeg's largest school division and the Southern Chiefs' Organization say they are working together on a new partnership intended to ensure First Nations students have access to the support and resources they need to succeed in school.

Winnipeg School Division staff, students and caregivers will have guidance on how to access support available to students through a newly appointed Jordan's Principle co-ordinator, a Tuesday news release from the SCO and the Winnipeg School Division said.

Jordan's Principle says that all First Nations children, living on or off reserve, must have equitable access to all public services.

"[We] hear stories about challenges that our citizens are facing within the school system … [and] we've wanted to participate in creating an environment that is respectful and adds value to our young children's lives," Southern Chiefs' Grand Chief Jerry Daniels said.

"We want to create the best opportunities for [them], and we'll work with the school division to do that."

The Winnipeg School Division's new Jordan's Principle co-ordinator will focus on ensuring First Nation students have equal access to the full range of services needed to ensure the best possible educational outcomes, Tuesday's news release said.

Jordan's Principle is named after Jordan River Anderson, a five-year-old boy from Norway House Cree Nation who was born with a rare medical condition that required extensive medical treatment in Winnipeg. He died in the hospital in 2005, while federal and provincial governments argued over who should pay for his home care. 

Jordan's Principle stipulates that First Nation children must be able to access care and support when they need it, without delay or denial. In 2016, the federal government announced new funding to implement Jordan's Principle.

In an educational setting, funding can help pay for school supplies, tutoring, teaching assistants and assistive technology or electronics.

Barriers to access

The Southern Chiefs' Organization hopes that improving access to these resources will increase graduation rates for First Nations students. 

For non-Indigenous students in Manitoba, the four-year high school graduation rate was 90.8 per cent in 2020, according to provincial data. For Indigenous students, it was 50.9 per cent.

But to access funding that might help them, students need a status card or registration number — something not all First Nations students have, says the Winnipeg School Division's director of Indigenous education.

"We have students that we've tried to get Jordan's Principle [funding] for, and they won't support you if you don't have that ID," said Rob Riel.

"So that's an area that we know there's multiple supports that can be enhanced."

Another barrier is that staff, students and caregivers might not know what supports are available. The WSD's Jordan's Principle co-ordinator will help bridge that gap, the division says.

Currently, 28 per cent of students in the division self-identify as First Nations, but Riel estimates the real number is closer to 40 per cent. 

The gap in the number of students with a status card can be explained, in part, by a lack of trust with the education system, says Daniels.

He says that distrust is generational and due to systemic racism, something he recalls from his own experiences attending high school off-reserve.

The new co-ordinator, who will be employed by SCO, will help rebuild that trust in the education system, he said.

"That's why it's very important that it's coming from our organization. It's coming from First Nations leadership."

Daniels believes the new role will help facilitate systemic change, too.

"We can't be there in every single classroom where teachers are using inappropriate language or talking about Indigenous peoples inappropriately," he said.

"But we can mitigate that and hopefully ... create consequences for that so that it doesn't happen anymore. And I think that that's hopefully where we want to be, for all of our educational institutions."