“Parity is not too much to ask for”: Chief on Lennox Island First Nation reserve school funding

“Parity is not too much to ask for. We have every right to receive the education that someone across the [Lennox Island] bridge receives,” says the chief of the Lennox Island First Nation.  Matilda Ramjattan says that the reserve’s elementary school receives $6K per student from Ottawa, which CBC juxtaposes with PEI’s Department of Education, which found that the cost per student in its public school system was nearly $11K. “Of course we always make the best with the money that we have. I always say that we're creative natives,” said Ramjattan. “But it means we're not always going to provide everything the province is doing, which we would love to do. We would like to be on par with the province.” A spokesperson for Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada reportedly stated that the government is committed to improving education infrastructure in First Nations communities. CBC