Where's the Fight?

Why isn’t the UCP standing up for Indigenous kids?

The signature move of the UCP is to fight with Ottawa. Danielle Smith knows her polling, she knows that the fight is what underpins her current popularity. When the federal government made changes to Jordan’s Principle funding earlier this year, I was surprised that she didn’t add this to her list of grievances with Ottawa. The result of the change is the loss of millions of dollars of funding for Alberta school boards.

Jordan’s Principle funding was created after a human rights complaint in 2007. The argument in the case was that First Nations kids weren’t able to access services equitably due to disputes between jurisdictions. It was underpinned by the tragic case of Jordan River Anderson, a young boy who had to live in hospital for two years while the federal and provincial governments argued over who was responsible for paying for at-home care. Jordan died before the governments were able to come to an agreement.

The funding changes from Ottawa were made after the federal government argued before a human rights tribunal that “requests were being made for a swath of non-urgent things”. However, the changes that were made went far beyond denying requests for gaming consoles or headshots. Instead, it seems that Ottawa will no longer approve requests for school-related funding for Indigenous children who attend off-reserve schools.

Outcomes are not equitable for Alberta’s Indigenous students. Compared to the rest of Alberta’s students, Indigenous students have lower diploma exam grades, lower high school completion rates, and significantly lower rates of transition to post-secondary programs.

The Minister of Education knows this, of course. He also knows that the 2.68% increase to the learning supports grant this year isn’t enough funding to replace all the education support staff lost with the loss of Jordan’s Principle funding. Even if schools use the new funding to replace some support staff for Indigenous students, they will be doing so at the expense of the thousands of other complex kids who have been without classroom supports for years.

Why have the Education Minister and the Premier been so quiet on this? Why are they so willing to go to bat for an industry and so unwilling to stand up for actual people?

I think it’s because the UCP cares more about politics than they do about people. They don’t believe that Albertans will reward them in the polls for going to bat for Indigenous kids. And why do something for someone else if you get nothing in return, right?

I’d love to be proven wrong on this one. This is an opportunity for the Premier to show her fight and stand up for Indigenous students in Alberta. Will she?

Photo credit- National Post, May 2025.