Alberta Indigenous students suffering from a lack of funding: officials

A vehicle drives through the village in the Stoney Nakoda First Nation in Mînî Thnî, Alta., Thursday, June 17, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

Administrators in charge of education on the Stoney Nakoda First Nation say “vague assurances” about funding from the federal government are risking student success.

The Stoney Education Authority (SEA) and Canadian Rockies Public Schools (CRPS) say “conflicting communications” are coming from Indigenous Services Canada (ISC), the federal agency in charge of supplying funding to the district.

During a meeting on March 24, the SEA and CRPS said Jonathan Allen, ISC’s senior director of the education branch, told them only 50 per cent of the funding for the 2025-26 school year was guaranteed, with no commitment beyond March 2026.

However, after the meeting, the ISC released a statement saying, “there have been no changes to tuition funding” and the tuition will be funded according to bilateral agreements.

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Both groups say these messages have made the situation “untenable.”

“ISC’s assertion that full tuition for all students has always been paid does not reflect the reality on the ground,” said Bill Shade, superintendent of the SEA, in a statement.

“Just this past year, full tuition funding from ISC was not received from April 2024 to March 2025, leaving both school divisions in arrears to the tune of several million dollars.”

Shade said the funding was only restored after both divisions lobbied the government extensively.

“We are disheartened that ISC continues to shift blame and evade responsibility,” Shade said.

CRPS’ chair Christopher MacPhee agreed with Shade, saying the ISC’s public statement is misleading.

“We were told directly, and in the presence of a federal senator, that ISC could only commit to half of the funding for next year, and that no funding was guaranteed past March 2026. Our board was forced to act on that reality.

“We cannot run schools on vague assurances that shift depending on the audience.”

MacPhee says the ISC needs to provide written assurance that it will provide full tuition for students as well as a four-year notice to both the SEA and CRPS before it makes any funding changes to impact the education service agreement.

At present, without confirmation about its funding levels, the CRPS removed approximately 150 spaces provided to Stoney Nakoda Nation students on April 30, beginning in the new school year.

Both the SEA and CRPS are seeking a long-term funding commitment from the federal government in the next few days.

CTV News has reached out to Indigenous Services Canada for comment on this story.