National working summit participants commit to improving Aboriginal education
across Canada

OHSWEKEN, ON, Oct 5 /CNW/ - Actions speak louder than words, and today participants at the National Working Summit on Aboriginal Postsecondary Education committed to action. Participants from universities, colleges, Aboriginal institutes, charities, Aboriginal organizations and the private sector met at Six Nations Polytechnic in Six Nations of the Grand River territory, near Brantford Ontario. Already actively involved in Aboriginal postsecondary education, all of them committed to do more.

The summit was co-chaired by Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada President Paul Davidson and National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation President Roberta Jamieson.

"The energy at the summit was incredible," said Mr. Davidson. "There was real commitment and belief that we can transform the results that Aboriginal Canadians are currently getting from the PSE system. This will give them the skills to get good jobs and contribute to their communities."

Aboriginal Canadians have the lowest high school completion rate of any demographic group in Canada, and recent Aboriginal high school graduates are 23 percent less likely than their non-Aboriginal peers to go on to postsecondary education within two years after high school graduation. Aboriginal youth are the fastest growing segment of the Canadian population, there are more than 460,000 Aboriginal youth under the age of 20.

"Canada cannot dodge the hard-nosed economic fact that unless we do something about education of indigenous youth, hundreds of thousands of youth will not be available to help Canada deal with a shrinking labour force," added Ms. Jamieson. "Neither will our youth become adults who contribute to Canada's economy and that of their own communities. In other words, inaction would mean human tragedy with significant economic consequences." 

Both the Association and the Foundation have identified the crisis of First Nations, Inuit and Métis education as one of the most compelling national issues Canada must face. AUCC member institutions have identified this as one of the Association's most significant priorities.

"Solving the problem we face will not 'just happen'," Ms. Jamieson said. "AUCC's active involvement with the Foundation is a significant joining of forces to deal with this national crisis."

Through AUCC and the Foundation, summit participants committed to the following objectives:

• To take a holistic approach to ensure successful transitions for students and to help more Aboriginal students complete their post-secondary education;
• To work collaboratively, seeing opportunities to partner with other interested organizations, to share knowledge about what approaches are most successful.
• To continue to seek increased federal funding for Aboriginal students; and
• To continue advocating for increased federal funding for Aboriginal-focused support programs at universities and colleges.

In addition, AUCC and the Foundation plan to survey the thousands of recipients of bursaries from the Foundation to determine what are the essential features that contribute to their success as students in a postsecondary institution.

AUCC and all summit participants welcome the Foundation's goal of creating a virtual Aboriginal Achievement Institute. The institute will evaluate and share best practices and shape a series of pilot projects driven by Aboriginal communities designed to improve high school graduation rates.

The National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation provides more funding to First Nations, Inuit and Métis youth than any other agency in Canada outside the federal government. This year alone it provided over $5-million to over fifteen hundred recipients.

The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada is the voice of Canada's universities. It represents 95 Canadian public and private not-for-profit universities and university-degree level colleges.

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