COVID-19: First Nations leaders say their schools not getting help from feds – Strathroy Age Dispatch
The elementary schools on First Nations in Southwestern Ontario are not getting the help they need as children prepare for the return to school in September under the dark cloud of COVID-19, Indigenous leaders say.
July 29, 2020
The elementary schools on First Nations in Southwestern Ontario are not getting the help they need as children prepare for the return to school in September under the dark cloud of COVID-19, Indigenous leaders say.
Schools such as Antler River on Chippewas of the Thames First Nation and Standing Stone on Oneida Nation of the Thames are funded by the federal government, not the province.
But officials for groups that represent Indigenous communities say they have heard “zero” from Ottawa about getting the resources they need to run classes safely at those and other schools. No rescue is coming, they say.
“The horses are still in the barn and the cavalry is still in the bunk beds,” said Joe Miskokomon, deputy grand council chief for the southwest region of the Anishinabek Nation. “There’s too much uncertainty.”
