The Legault government on Tuesday rejected a proposal aimed at strengthening the protection of indigenous students, who are struggling to assert their rights in a school system still considered “colonialist” despite recent advances.
Elected officials from the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) defeated a proposal to add an Aboriginal student ombudsman to Bill 9, which establishes a National Student Ombudsman. The First Nations Education Council (FNEC) and the opposition parties have denounced a “missed opportunity to make a gesture of reconciliation” towards the Aboriginal peoples.
“We say to the Minister of Education: ‘Come to 2022.’ He has had several opportunities to show some leadership in matters of reconciliation. We see a lot of words and little action,” argued Denis Gros-Louis, Executive Director of the FNEC.
The proposal for a new National Student Ombudsman was generally well received in the school community. This project replaces the old mechanism, which lacked the teeth to truly look after the interests of the students, in the opinion of Minister Jean-François Roberge. The new national protector, supported by regional protectors, will be able to carry out his investigations in complete independence, argues the Minister of Education.
The First Nations have, however, brought to light what they consider to be a blind spot in the bill: “We noted the absence of any mention or recommendation aimed at cultural and linguistic security or support for complainants on the whole of Bill 9, especially First Nations and Inuit students who attend an educational institution in the provincial school system (and their parents)”, indicates the FNEC brief.
Without services in an Aboriginal language and without an interpreter, parents will have difficulty using the services of the Protector. This will only amplify the feeling of “vulnerability” of Aboriginal people in the face of a school system designed by and for whites, underlines the FNEC.
“In fact, reporting a situation of violence, verbal or physical intimidation, discrimination or any other situation of prejudice in the school environment places the student in a context of distress, not to mention historical factors. specific to people from the First Peoples such as intergenerational trauma, “says the brief.
However, the Viens commission recommended that the authorities “make the implementation of support measures for school perseverance and the educational success of Aboriginal students and children a priority and [d’]devote the necessary funds to it”, by consulting the First Nations.
Flexibility to act
During the detailed study of Bill 9, Tuesday in parliamentary committee, Minister Roberge argued that the National Student Ombudsman and his regional assistants would have full latitude to adapt their services to local realities, including those natives.
“I don’t think the solution is in creating a national or regional protector exclusively for Indigenous nations. I think the solution lies in training, in awareness, in the mandates that will be given,” he said.
The government was able to undertake a culture change in Aboriginal health services “with a law that was older,” added the Minister of Education.
“With a law that is written after the unfortunate events [comme le décès de Joyce Echaquan], after the awakening we had in Quebec, we will be able to take those steps. We must not be cynical, we must not think that things will not happen and that there are people with bad intentions, ”he said.
An unavoidable duty
The opposition parties in Quebec maintain that the minister is missing a golden opportunity to create a law tailored to the requirements of reconciliation. “I can’t believe the government is still adopting a strategy”one size fits all” with respect to First Nations. This has been the crux of the problem for decades,” said Liberal MP Marwah Rizqy.
Given its commitment to promote reconciliation, the government should “systematically take into account Aboriginal realities in the bills that lend themselves to it,” adds Christine Labrie, of Québec solidaire. She recalls that the Minister of Families, Mathieu Lacombe, took the initiative to open up his bill on educational childcare services to the Aboriginal point of view.
“The government has undertaken the cultural security of Aboriginal people in health, it is now the turn of education,” says PQ MNA Véronique Hivon, who closely followed the tragedy of Joyce Echaquan, which occurred in her riding. of Joliet.