Impacts of Jordan's Principle funding cuts already evident in N.W.T. community

An N.W.T. MLA says cuts to federal Jordan's Principle funding will affect school teaching assistant positions in Łutsël Kʼé.

The federal government announced sweeping changes to the program earlier this year. In February, N.W.T. educators questioned if the funding changes would impact teaching assistant positions, considering the majority are paid for through Jordan's Principle.  

Jordan's Principle is a human rights principle established by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to make sure First Nations children do not face gaps, delays or denials in accessing government services because of their identity as First Nations children.

Richard Edjericon, MLA for Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh, says schools have since realized the cuts will in fact affect teaching assistant positions.

"Let me give you a concrete example of how devastating these cuts are. Last week, I learned that Łutsël Kʼé Dene First Nation School is losing five full-time education assistants, all of whom were funded through the Jordan's Principle program," Edjericon said in the N.W.T. Legislature on Wednesday.

Edjericon gave Fort Resolution as a second example, and said its Deninu School stands to lose a significant amount of federal funding with the new eligibility restrictions. He added that even schools in Yellowknife are at risk of losing funding with around $50 million in serious jeopardy come fall.

"For weeks now, schools across the North have watched as their applications for Jordan's Principle funding for the fall have come back denied," said Edjericon.

"When schools reopen this fall, a crisis of Indigenous education will begin unless this minister takes immediate action to restore the Jordan's Principle funding."

In 2024, the education department funded 127 support assistants. The other 205 were funded through Jordan's Principle.

Edjericon asked Education Minister Caitlin Cleveland Wednesday how she is working with community school boards and First Nations to restore funding.

In the legislature, Cleveland said she has a close working relationship with the territory's education bodies and education ministers in the Yukon and Nunavut.

"When this program was introduced and over the last number of years, officials at the Department of Education have reiterated to officials within the federal government that we cannot afford to take on this program should they choose not to continue it," said Cleveland.

Edjericon noted how education is a treaty right to be upheld and questioned why schools in the territory became so reliant on the federal funding.

Cleveland said the territorial government accounts for school positions within their funding formula and the federal government has created additional positions through their program, entirely separate from territorial government methods.

Cleveland said she and the N.W.T. minister of health and social services will be bringing concerns to the federal government and looking to discuss them with Rebecca Alty, federal minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs.