Educator identifies funding gaps for First Nations students in Thunder Bay

Limited funding creates challenges for First Nations schools and their students, the executive director of the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council told jurors on Thursday at the inquest into the deaths of First Nations students in Thunder Bay, Ont.

The inquest is examining the deaths of seven students from remote First Nations who died while attending high school in the city between 2000 and 2011.

"It's going to take all of us in this room, everyone who is represented here, to make this place safer for students," Norma Kejick said. The education council she directs operates Dennis Franklin Cromarty (DFC) high school in Thunder Bay.

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Kejick's testimony included a review of the financial statements of the council.

DFC is running an accumulated deficit of more than a million dollars since it opened in 2000, she said.

"We're always spending more money than we have," Kejick said.

According to Kejick's testimony the federal government provides the education council with approximately $2,000 less per student at Dennis Franklin Cromarty school than is provided for First Nations students who attend a public high school in Sioux Lookout.

To preserve funding for student services, salaries have been frozen for all staff with the education council since 2007, she said.

The top salary for a teacher at Dennis Franklin Cromarty school is $74,000, Kejick testified, adding the same teacher with a public board would make $98,000.

The government also provides the education council with about $6,600 per student living away from home to pay for room and board and transportation, Kejick said.

Not all of the students at Dennis Franklin Cromarty school are eligible for that funding, but the school provides equal services to everyone, she said. 

There is no funding available for travel at any time other than Christmas and the end of the school year, Kejick said.

But the education council feels it's important for students to return to their families at March Break, so it pays for that travel as well, she said. Flights to the northern communities can cost up to $1,000 per person.

Unexpected expenses also come up, Kejick said. 

When student Daniel Levac was killed in 2014, the education council spent thousands of dollars to send 39 students from his home community back to Sachigo Lake for the funeral; to host memorial service at the school and to provide additional mental health supports for staff and students, she said.

"I have no emergency fund," she said.

Currently students live with boarding parents in Thunder Bay. There is also no federal funding for a student residence because it would be built off-reserve, Kejick said.

"I do think in order to keep our students safe, we need a residence," she said. "We need to know where our students are."

An earlier plan to build a residence on the Confederation College grounds with the help of Wasaya Airways fell apart, she said. 

The education council is now hoping to build a 50-room dormitory on property right beside Dennis Franklin Cromarty school.

"We're looking at other options for how we can make this happen," Kejick said.

Kejick said she didn't want to leave the inquest with the impression that "it's all dark clouds." 

More than 240 students have graduated from Dennis Franklin Cromarty school since it opened in 2000, she said.

"Would they have graduated if not for our school?" she asked.

Watch live streaming video from the First Nation student deaths inquest here.

Follow CBC Thunder Bay reporter Jody Porter as she tweets from the inquest.