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Nov. 5, 2005. 08:47 AM

School's out too often on native reserves
Kashechewan pupils latest to lose classes
Mould, bad water common in North

LOUISE BROWN
EDUCATION REPORTER

On the northern edge of Ontario where the treeline meets Hudson Bay, the 
entire Grade 8 class of Fort Severn is repeating the year after a mould 
infestation shut down their school last year.

Junior high is now taught in the restaurant.

Down the coast of James Bay in Attawapiskat, an oil spill closed the 
school building five years ago. The 600 children are so weary of being 
scattered across 19 portables, with no fire alarms and 50 per cent more 
students than they were built to hold, that 30 families have moved away 
to cities so their children can attend proper schools.

Up here above the 50th parallel — where schools often shut down for 
weeks, even years, at a time because of mould under the floorboards, 
dirty water in the taps, contaminated soil and hazards rarely seen, let 
alone tolerated, in schools elsewhere in Canada — the students of 
Kashechewan are just the latest victims of educational upheaval.

At Muskrat Dam First Nation about 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, 
there has been no running water this week because of a filtration 
breakdown. All 56 students have had their school day shortened by nearly 
two hours to reduce the disruption of having to use outside 
port-a-potties. "The children are getting stressed out," says education 
director Roy Fiddler. "I don't know how much longer we can keep the 
school open without water."

At nearby North Caribou Lake First Nation, all 140 students missed three 
weeks of school this fall while mould was removed from under the floors.

And the displaced children of Kashechewan, who have been out of school 
for three weeks in a tainted water crisis that has seized the national 
spotlight, will face an uphill battle catching up, warns Grand Chief 
Stan Beardy of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), which represents 49 
northern reserves, including Kashechewan.

"When you're already behind, as our children are, it doesn't take many 
missed days of school to get completely lost. I'm worried some of our 
children might miss their school year," he said.

And with many native children already lagging three years behind in 
school, educators say school closings are the last thing these children 
need.

"Our schools are in a crisis situation with health and safety, there's 
such a serious problem with mould, building structure, water quality and 
crowding," says former teacher Goyce Kakegamic, NAN's deputy chief of 
education.

In Kashechewan, more than 700 people were airlifted last week to 
Sudbury, Cochrane, Timmins, Ottawa and Sault Ste Marie after the Cree 
reserve declared a state of emergency Oct. 14 after E. coli bacteria was 
found in its water.

Some of the children hope to resume classes Monday in Cochrane, using an 
empty school donated by the local Catholic school board. But plans 
remain unclear for the other students.

One Thunder Bay psychologist who has worked with northern children for 
20 years found that by Grade 8, the average child on one remote Ontario 
reserve has missed the equivalent of almost two years of school because 
of school closings prompted by substandard conditions. Several northern 
educators say it is common for schools to be closed up to 30 days per 
year because of equipment breakdowns.

"Even in the poorest neighbourhoods in Toronto, students don't have to 
deal with schools that routinely close down because there is no heat or 
clean water — and these factors absolutely have an impact on children's 
learning," said Mary-Beth Minthorn-Biggs.

She measured Grade 8 pupils' reading levels in Fort Severn in June and 
found they had dropped by two grades since the school building closed in 
2004.

Why are northern schools in such disrepair?

Many are old, the climate is harsh and the exploding birth rate among 
Canada's First Nations — twice the national average — leaves even new 
schools bursting at the seams, say educators.

Too, an unlucky blend of conditions often leads to a "perfect storm" for 
mould that can cause respiratory problems and headaches, explains one 
engineer who tests northern schools for health hazards. Schools often 
are built on low-lying muskeg that floods heavily during spring thaw, 
causing humidity that gets trapped behind porous drywall and in damp 
crawl spaces beneath the floor, accelerated by poor air circulation and 
lack of maintenance.

Often the community lacks the skills to maintain the school buildings 
and lacks the funds to fly in outside experts.

Moreover, schools on reserves are federally funded at about half the 
level of provincially funded schools, leaving many scrambling to pay 
salaries with little left for upkeep, says Ontario NDP Leader Howard 
Hampton, whose northern riding of Rainy River includes about half 
Ontario's northern reserves.

"There's an atrocious double standard in education funding on reserves 
that leads to Third World conditions in many schools," said Hampton.

He cites Summer Beaver, a northern fly-in reserve that changed hands 
this summer from provincial to federal funding; its school budget was 
cut to about $1 million from $1.8 million.

But Indian and Northern Affairs Canada official Katherine Knott says she 
is "absolutely concerned about the disruption to students in Kashechewan 
... The sooner we get started delivering the program, the better."

In the short run, First Nation communities in Ontario's north say their 
schools need emergency funding from Ottawa to remove mould, improve 
water and expand buildings that are crowded and run down. They also need 
more funding for teacher training, special education and parenting programs.

But in the long run, government handouts are not the answer, says Grand 
Chief Stan Beardy.

As long as many First Nation reserves remain virtual welfare ghettoes — 
ranked by the United Nations at 63rd for quality of life on the 
international Human Development Index — native children will lag further 
behind.

"We'll continue to be a burden to society as long as we're denied 
economic opportunity," said Beardy, who says private companies draw 
about $20 billion a year from NAN territory through mining and logging 
and tourism, yet First Nations receive less than 2 per cent back in 
transfer payments.

He said Ottawa must enforce Section 35 of the Constitution and enable 
First Nations to share in the economic prosperity of the lands on which 
they live.

"We're looking for economic participation," he said. "We're looking to 
share in resources, not more handouts."

Meanwhile, Kashechewan father Gary Wesley has shipped his two sons to 
Timmins for school.

Attawapiskat principal Vince Dumond braces for another winter of 
absenteeism from students getting sick walking between portables in wind 
and temperatures that plunge to —45C.

Fort Severn father George Kakekaspan will continue to commute from Fort 
Severn, where he works as band manager, to Thunder Bay, where his wife 
now lives with their children.

"A lot of families up here have been torn apart because they move so 
their kids can go to school," he said. "We should be entitled to the 
same right as any other Canadians to have our children go to school in a 
safe, healthy environment."

Related stories: http://www.thestar.com/native.

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