A think-tank recently issued a report stating that federal funding for post-secondary education is failing to reach many aboriginal youth. The MacDonald-Laurier Institute has asserted that band councils, which receive government money to distribute to their members, sometimes choose with whom to provide education funding based on favouritism.
The institute’s report proposed the following solution: the federal government can deposit funds directly into registered education savings plans for each newborn aboriginal. This is a fair and practical alternative to the current system, which is simply too vulnerable to manipulation.
While a number of aboriginals have taken offence to the report, it should not be viewed as an insult to First Nations, as it addresses legitimate concerns regarding how post-secondary funding is distributed within aboriginal communities based on a flawed system.
Band councils are certainly capable of distributing funding fairly and many have been doing so. But the fact is the current system provides potential for abuse. Direct deposit would simply eliminate this possibility.
Moreover, First Nations, especially those with scarce resources, stand to benefit from this proposed alternative, as it would mean erasing an unnecessary level of bureaucracy.
Ultimately, the government doles out this money intending for each and every aboriginal citizen to have the chance to attend a post-secondary institution and, by extension, dictate their own future. By depositing this money directly into individual saving plans, the federal government would not be taking control away from First Nations — quite the contrary. The government would be directly empowering aboriginals from birth to have access to necessary resources for shaping their destinies.