Latest news with #MattLove
CBC
11-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Parent, NDP urge province to step in, prevent layoffs of educational assistants in Saskatoon
The Saskatchewan NDP is calling for the provincial government to step in and prevent the layoffs of 80 educational assistants at Saskatoon Public Schools. On Feb. 5, the school division announced it had to end the contracts due to a shortfall in expected federal funding under Jordan's Principle. In a note to parents, the school division said it hired additional educational assistants, expecting to receive federal dollars from Indigenous Services Canada as part of the Jordan's Principle initiative, which is meant to ensure Indigenous children receive the health, social and education services they need. On Monday, NDP education critic Matt Love called on the provincial government to step in and fund the positions. "We need more educational assistants, not less. We're already dealing with the shortage. This shortage has led to a number of families having children who are not allowed to attend school on a full-time basis, simply because they don't have the supports," Love said. CBC reached out to the provincial government for response but did not hear back before deadline. Erin Gerwing's son is in Grade 2 at Silverspring School and needs a one-on-one EA, as well as consistent routines. "My son is autistic, ADHD, and hyperlexic. He's a genius, but he does fall behind socially and he is not able to probably take care of himself. He has the potential to be anything in the world, but he won't be able to reach that potential without support going through school," she said. Constantly switching and losing EAs causes distress and it's difficult for her son to build trust and regulate with someone he isn't comfortable with, she said. "The EA was going to be taken away, and we've just been let know that she will be staying with us until April, and then after that, we don't really know," she said. Gerwing said she's angry and frustrated to know that the province has been relying on the federal government for funding and has been underfunding education for years. "There should really be no family left behind, like this province should look after everybody," she said. "[It] doesn't matter what it is. You've got to look after the people of the province." She said she's scared for herself and for all the families whose kids are going to be left behind. "If we leave the kids behind now and don't help them now, what is their future going to be like? And that is, as a parent, a very specific concern of mine, what my son's future looks like, and we need all the help we can get to get him where he needs to be." Gerwing said she's been fighting and advocating for her son since he was in preschool and that every year there's a new fight that is exhausting for parents like her, constantly battling the basic right to education.
CBC
05-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Saskatoon Public Schools cutting about 80 educational assistants, citing federal funding loss
Saskatoon Public Schools says it's ending contracts for about 80 temporary educational assistants over the next two weeks because it hasn't received expected federal funding. In a note to parents, the school division said it hired additional educational assistants expecting to receive federal dollars from Indigenous Services Canada as part of the Jordan's Principle initiative, which is meant to ensure Indigenous children receive the health, social and education services they need. That includes funding educational assistants to aid Indigenous children in schools. The letter said the funding never came. "Without continued federal funding, it is no longer sustainable to maintain these positions, and the school division lacks the resources to cover the gap," the letter said to parents. The letter said Saskatoon Public Schools "managed millions of dollars allocated through Jordan's Principle" from 2019 to 2024. It said parents will be notified before Feb. 14 if their child is losing educational assistant support. CBC contacted other school divisions to see if they were facing similar situations. Spokespeople for Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools and Regina Public Schools said they received funding through Jordan's Principle this year and are not laying off educational assistants. Regina Catholic Schools said it is waiting on some funding through Jordan's Principle, but has no plans for staff layoffs and is relying on contingency plans made during its budgeting process. In November, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ordered Ottawa to address a backlog of assistance requests under the Jordan's Principle program. Federal lawyers filed an application for a judicial review of that order in December. The government had identified 140,000 unprocessed applications — 25,000 of them labelled as urgent — but couldn't say when they would be cleared. Jordan's Principle is named after Jordan River Anderson, a Norway House Cree Nation boy born with multiple disabilities in 1999. He spent his entire life in hospital because Manitoba and Ottawa couldn't agree on who would pay the costs of his home care. He died at age five. CBC has contacted Indigenous Services Canada, which oversees the program, for response. Saskatchewan NDP education critic Matt Love said the provincial government should work with affected school divisions and the federal government to ensure the divisions are properly funded. "We have a system in need of supports for students with intensive support needs and now we have a loss of 80 professionals who provide those supports," said Love.
