Two things are apparent in the Canadian government and economics: (a) The federal government is cutting back on it’s responsibilities and (b) Aboriginal economic and governmental growth is increasing at a higher rate than ever.
While the First Peoples continue to navigate their way through the potholes and deadfalls created by hundreds of years of abuse by the Canadian government, times are now favouring an increasing confidence in self-government.
Becoming a growth sector in a recessive federal regime increases the advantage of the independent policies of Aboriginals. In doing so it becomes a “wild card” in the Harper program of globalising the Canadian economy (see video below) (1) under a more plutocratic structure.
Fortunately under the current Canadian system, it still isn’t easy to dismiss and marginalize the efforts of First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and Dene peoples. Treaty rights still exist as do legitimate challenges to archaic and misguided federal policies such as the Indian Act. Read more on this Article!
While still battling their way through the jungle of examinations, most university students are also looking ahead to summer or post-graduate employment. They are well aware of a need to manage finances for the summer and beyond. At The same time strong companies know that summer offers an opportunity to mine the employment market for bright new talent.
The ideal is a career-related position and those may not be that easy to come by. Aboriginal communities and companies are also aware that some of their best future talent will be available and this is a valuable opportunity to sample that resource pool.
Among the opportunities are companies such as Tribal Wi-Chi-Way-Win Capital Corporation (TWCC) whom each year also contributes to the other side of student financial equation. As in the past they are now currently seeking a summer student to fill their Golf Tournament Coordinator position. (See PDF: Golf Coordinator Closing Date: Friday April 30, 2010) Read more on this Article!
You want to go to university in the fall. The grades are there and you have the motivation and potential to achieve great things. What can go wrong?
Well, there is the not-so-minor issue of accessing the funding. If you are aboriginal, there is, in theory, educational funding available for post secondary education.
In theory.
In practice, access to funding is subject to multiple variables, few of which have anything to do with the student’s qualifications. Specifically, the present Post-Secondary Student Support Program (PSSSP) is administered through various levels of bureaucracy, both in the local communities and the federal government, which can make present day funding very iffy. As pointed out by Calvin Helin and Dave Snow in their report “Free To Learn” :
“Each year, Canadian taxpayers pay $314 million toward the PSSSP. This money does not go directly to Registered Indian students, but is transferred from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) to individual Indian bands, which in turn distribute the money to students themselves”
