DEBATES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY (Hansard) - Wednesday, February 27, 2008
View Hansard video clip: Question Period - J. Horgan (system requirements)

J. Horgan:  For the minister's benefit, the problem for first nations learners in this province began about 150 years ago. We are on the brink now in the Cowichan Valley of restoring some reconciliation and of creating a new relationship that the Premier speaks so eloquently about, but that eloquence falls on deaf ears in the Cowichan Valley.
Tonight there will be a large public meeting in Duncan to discuss another round of school closures as a result of inadequate funding from this government.

My question specifically is to the Premier. How does closing a 98 percent first nations school, eliminating the spectre for elders of residential schools in this province...? How do we reconcile and create a new relationship by closing the only school south of the Cowichan River that teaches aboriginal languages?

Hon. S. Bond: To the member opposite: having a successful program for aboriginal children in British Columbia is not determined by the building that they're in. What it's determined by is a conscious effort by school districts and educational leaders to make a difference for aboriginal children.

Under the leadership of this government, in fact, we've seen aboriginal completion rates in British Columbia rise from 42 percent to 48 percent. That's the highest they've ever been. We've made no secret of the fact that that is completely unacceptable, but we are working closely with first nations leadership. We are providing record levels of funding, and we are committed to making a difference for first nations children in British Columbia.

Mr. Speaker: The member has a supplemental.

J. Horgan: The Premier will be joining us in the Cowichan Valley this summer for the North American Indigenous Games where we will be celebrating athleticism, culture and language just months after a school district is forced, because of an inadequate funding formula, to close a first nations school.

Again my question is to the Premier. When you come to the Cowichan Valley for the photo opportunity, when you come to the Cowichan Valley to bask in the Cowichan culture, what will you say to the students and parents at Koksilah Elementary when their children are dispersed to other schools in the district?

Hon. G. Campbell: I think we all know that there's nothing more important than education for young people across this province, aboriginal and non-aboriginal alike. The fact of the matter is that our province has established the first-ever educational agreement. It was done with first nations. It provides for first nations to take control over the education of their kids in keeping with the standards that we've set across the province of British Columbia.
We've signed 36 aboriginal enhancement agreements across the province to encourage aboriginal funding. We've increased funding for aboriginal language preservation. But there's one other thing that we do; and that is, we respect the responsibilities of locally elected school boards. We're not pretending these are easy decisions to make, but we have increased funding in education to the highest level in the history of British Columbia. Per-student funding is at the highest level ever in the history of the province.

We are working with aboriginal communities to focus on their needs and the needs of their children. We are developing aboriginal curricula. We are developing aboriginal languages. We are working to protect aboriginal languages. And we will continue to work with school boards across this province to protect and preserve the kinds of quality aboriginal educational programs that are critically essential to the long-term future of the province.