OTTAWA — Documents show the federal government’s own department believes it needs to spend more money if aboriginal children are to get the same kind of education as other kids in Canada.
Since the mid-to-late 1990s, there has been a two per cent cap on the amount that spending on aboriginal education can grow each year.
But an internal Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development document says the cap is too low and needs to be more than doubled, to 4.5 per cent.
The document is among several filed as part of First Nations advocate Cindy Blackstock’s long battle at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
Blackstock is fighting to get aboriginal children the same level of funding from the federal government as non-aboriginal kids get from the provinces.
The document also shows Aboriginal Affairs has shifted half a billion dollars meant for infrastructure over a six-year period to try to cover shortfalls in social and education programs.