Latest news with #JordansPrinciple
CBC
02-08-2025
- Business
- CBC
Jordan's Principle office in Brandon shuts down over federal funding cuts
Social Sharing A Jordan's Principle office serving urban children and families from Canupawakpa Dakota First Nation and Birdtail Sioux First Nation in Brandon, Man. has shut its doors, citing a major reduction in federal funding. Canupawakpa Chief Raymond Brown told CBC News the First Nation saw federal funding for Jordan's Principle cut by millions. "We couldn't afford to keep that office open," Brown said. The Dakota Urban Jordan's Principle office, located at 1209 Richmond Ave., opened in October 2024 and closed in the spring, forcing Canupawakpa to lay off five employees. Brown said the closure of the urban office marks a significant blow to the delivery of services under Jordan's Principle — an initiative to ensure First Nations youth can access essential health and social services without delay or disruption, with jurisdictional questions over which government should pay to be worked out later. In February, the federal government announced changes to Jordan's Principle that narrow the range of eligible requests. Indigenous Services Canada, which has been handling funding requests, says it's dealing with an enormous backlog of about 140,000, and in March announced operational and eligibility changes, amid concerns the funding was not being used as intended. CBC contacted Indigenous Services Canada for comment, but did not receive a statement by publication time. The federal government's funding cuts have left the Dakota Urban Jordan's Principle office unable to continue operations, despite growing demands, Brown said. He estimates around 100 families consistently visited the office. The closure means families and children will lose access to essential services like school lunches, teaching assistants and transportation, Brown said. The decision to close the office and lay off around five workers happened before her election in April, said Birdtail Sioux First Nation Chief Tréchelle Bunn. She said Jordan's Principle funding is still being processed and Birdtail is still receiving notices of how much the community will receive this year. While there's still a Jordan's Principle office in Birdtail Sioux First Nation, the funding cuts are making some supports and services inaccessible for urban members, she said. "It's really unfortunate and it's kind of out of our control at this point," Bunn said. New funding model needed, says chief Bunn said First Nation leaders, communities and families were not fairly consulted when it comes to Jordan's Principle funding changes. She said the government needs to be held accountable for this. "A buzzword, I think, that is often used is a 'nation to nation relationship,'" Bunn said. "For that to happen, there needs to actually be communication and consultation with the leaders and community members." The funding changes to Jordan's Principle are part of a long history of the federal government imposing their own ideas of what First Nation children need, cutting out First Nation leadership and families who know first-hand what's best, said Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson. "These conversations are not happening with our leadership, with our families," Wilson said. "These conversations are happening in government offices where they are not seeing the direct impacts of the lack of services and support ... that's also very frustrating." Canupawakpa still has an on-reserve Jordan's Principle office, Brown said, but it is considerably smaller with fewer services. He warned any medical help through the service will now need to come with doctors' approval. That will make life harder for families, he said. In Canupawakpa, they want their own funding service that's specific to the Dakota people, Brown said. Jordan's Principle had too many restrictions and they need something that works better for the community. "We can handle our own funding and our own finances how we want," Brown said. "This is our country."
CBC
09-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Western Manitoba school division lays off support staff as Jordan's Principle funding lapses
Social Sharing A school division in western Manitoba is laying off about a third of its educational assistants after learning a source of federal funding will dry up. Swan Valley School Division is cutting its educational assistant hours to the equivalent of around 28 full-time positions, the division confirmed Thursday. It blames the cuts on recent changes to the federal Jordan's Principle program, which is meant to ensure First Nations children receive the health, social and education services they need. In an operational bulletin last February, Indigenous Services Canada said a legal analysis prompted it to end funding for school-related requests across the country "unless linked to the specific health, social or educational need of the First Nations child." "Supports to school boards off-reserve and private schools will be redirected to provincial school boards, or other existing provincial and federally-funded programs," it reads. Swan Valley says it was notified that Jordan's Principle funds for public-school students will be phased out after the current school year, meaning it will lose about $2.2 million in funding next school year. Losing 'great staff' Superintendent Rob Tomlinson said the funding loss stings. "We have a lot of great staff that we're laying off, not because of performance issues, but because of funding." Tomlinson said it's also frustrating because the division has already been using Jordan's Principle money to support Indigenous students. All one-to-one supports are exclusively for their use, and while other students may reap indirect benefits, "all those dollars, I can assure you, went directly to Indigenous students," Tomlinson said. "I don't feel like we were ever abusing Jordan's Principle dollars in any way, shape or form." In addition to providing services to vulnerable students, the funding also helped reduce the school division's assessment backlog for speech pathology, occupational therapy and psychology, he said. Tomlinson said 44 per cent of division students self-identify as Indigenous, and students from nearby First Nation communities go to Swan River for high school. "With such a high percentage of Indigenous students … off-reserve, we're struggling with that decision" to cancel Jordan's Principle funding, he said. Other school divisions are also grappling with a funding shortfall for the same reason. Last year, 93 educational assistants lost their jobs in the Hanover School Division, based in Steinbach. In Swan Valley, 18 permanent and 22 term EAs got their layoff notices last Friday. Kyle Ross, president of Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union, which represents some of Swan Valley's educational assistants, said the cuts will mean less support for students. "Some of them may have behavioural issues, some of them have learning disabilities and many other issues that affect the whole classroom. And when these individuals don't get those supports, it disrupts everyone's ability to learn," Ross said. Progressive Conservative education critic Wayne Ewasko wants the provincial NDP government to save the educational assistant jobs, and then ask the federal government for reimbursement for the wages. Spending that money is worth it, even if no other government helps with the bill, Ewasko said. In a statement, Education Minister Tracy Schmidt said the government has provided school divisions with $170 million in new funding since taking office in late 2023, which allows divisions to hire the EAs they need. Not including property tax or farmland rebates, the province gave Swan Valley about $14 million in funding for the next school year. The division has an upcoming $4.3 million budget shortfall next school year. Swan Valley said it cut its expenses by $2.5 million, but further reductions are challenging in light of rising costs, particularly for labour. Payroll accounts for about 80 per cent of the division's budget. The division is specifically cutting about eight full-time teaching positions. It's cutting a graphic design program and its full-time teaching position, along with a sensory gym program, and is reducing a full-time music teaching position to a three-quarters position.
