First Nations Educational Governance

The Constitutional Act 1867 established a dual system of education in Canada – provincial authority and federal responsibility for First Nations ‟ education. As a part of its treaty obligations, Canada agreed to provide western schools and services equitable with that provided by provincial systems (Morris 1880/1991). The authors argue that the federal system of education for First Nations children has only a surface similarity with the provincial systems. The fractured federal approach to First Nations education – lack of a governance system, educational policy, limited second level services and funding inequities – contributes to dissimilar educational services and inhibits First Nations ‟ student learning and effective educational outcomes. At the time of contact with Europeans explorers in the 16 th century, approximately 500,000 Indigenous people lived in self-governing communities spanning from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. As self-determining nations, each with their own language, culture, and socio- economic systems, people lived and prospered on the land, adapted to changing environments and trade patterns, and “evolved and grew within the spiritual traditions given to them by the Creator ” (Cardinal & Hildebrandt, 2000, p.3). Elders and community members passed on knowledge from one generation to the next as a part of their robust system of Indigenous education. However, “from the beginning of contact with European culture until the present, ” Deloria (1994) argued, “education has been a major area of conflict and concern ” (as cited in Cajete, 1994, p. 11). Conflict has resulted not only from the collision of educationa