A University of Saskatchewan student says a lack of government funding means many First Nations young people are getting short-changed when it comes to getting an education on-reserve.
Marylou Mintram is the president of the Indigenous Students’ Council and she grew up on a reserve in northern Manitoba.
She says poor facilities forced her to switch to an off-reserve school in Grade 8 where she was eventually able to catch up to her peers but not everyone is so lucky.
Jarita Greyeyes is a sessional teacher at the U of S and she also works for the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation.
She says not only are on-reserve students funded at a lesser rate than other students in Saskatchewan but funding levels are frozen meaning an increase in students does not result in more dollars from the federal government for education.
The two were speaking on Monday at the university on under funding in First Nations education as part of a discussion series on Idle No More.
Mintram and Greyeyes both say inequalities in education have been one of the reasons many young Indigenous people have joined the Idle No More movement.