Priorities

To ensure the permanent administration of the Post-Secondary Student Support Program (PSSSP) by First Nations communities.

• Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) is seriously considering transferring of the administration of the PSSSP to the Canada Student Loans Program or to a third party.
• Transferring the administration of the PSSSP to another entity would be yet another measure proving that the Government of Canada has a hidden agenda to assimilate First Nations into the dominant Canadian society.

To obtain a revision of the PSSSP funding to take into account the real needs.

• Between 2001 and 2006, over 10 500 First Nations students - not to mention more than 2 800 students in 2007 alone - did not have access to post-secondary education, due to lack of funding.
• The federal government continues to ignore the underfunding of First Nations postsecondary education, despite the Report of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, No Higher Priority: Aboriginal Post-Secondary Education in Canada, published in February 2007.
• The federal government refuses to fulfill its obligation to fully finance First Nations post-secondary educaton. It must fulfill its funding responsibility in accordance with the right to post-secondary education by taking immediate measures.

To establish a First Nations post-secondary educational institution.

• On the occasion of the 1st edition of the First Nations Socioeconomic Forum, held in Mashteuiatsh, October 26 and 27, 2006, the FNEC received financial contributions from AANDC and the ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport (MELS) for the establishment of a postsecondary institution.
• During the 2006-2007 fiscal year, the FNEC decided to create a partnership with the Cégep de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue (for the Francophone program) and Dawson College (for the Anglophone program).
• Early in 2008, (MELS) also joined the multi-institutional team in its operations.
• The First Nations Social Science program, in French and English, has been laid out and adopted by the FNEC and the two partnering Cégeps.
• FNEC fulfilled its dream of creating a post-secondary educational institution accessible to First Nations attendance at this institution increasing the new generation's income contributes to closing the education gap, thereby increasing the new generation's income levels and improving the socioeconomic conditions.