Although Yellowknife Education District No. 1 is potentially facing the loss of 79 educational assistants for the 2025-26 school year, the public schools will retain at least 39 other educational assistants, says superintendent Shirley Zouboules.
The numerous possible job cuts are based on tenuous term contracts funded by Indigenous Services Canada's (ISC) Jordan's Principle program, a legal obligation of the Canadian government to ensure First Nations children have access to adequate public services, such as education.
At minimum, Zouboules said 79 students would be impacted by the terminated positions, should they be eliminated. She stated that the school district will work within its existing financial resources and will explore its options to continue serving students. But the battle to keep the jobs isn't over yet.
"We are actively continuing our work with Indigenous Services Canada and Jordan's Principle to secure the necessary funding," Zouboules noted.
The 39 other educational assistants will be able to stay in 2025-26 based on the funding the school district receives from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment.
In a statement to SA国际影视传媒, Yellowknives Dene First Nation (YKDFN) said the potential loss of the many educational assistants within Yk 1 is deeply concerning.
"These individuals play an essential role in fostering a supportive and enriching learning environment for Indigenous and vulnerable students," YKDFN's statement reads.
The statement adds that YKDFN will work with ISC to ensure that its students and educational authorities continue receiving support. "We expect a constructive and satisfactory path forward that aligns with the principle of ensuring equitable access to education," it states.
Northwest Territories Teachers Association president Rita Mueller did not mince words regarding the impact of the potential staff losses.
"It would be devastating to the students they serve and to the teachers and other staff they work with," she said bluntly. "This program has been really, unbelievably beneficial SA国际影视传媒� in the Northwest Territories and across Canada SA国际影视传媒� in helping to bring in the specialized supports to help work with children, in a variety of context and not just school.
"The services they provide in school is invaluable. These are people who are directly, one-on-one, helping children who need it the most. We are terribly worried."
EAs occupy specialized roles that are often specific to the child in need, according to Mueller. If those positions are eliminated, the remaining EAs who are paid through the GNWT's annual education budget would be left having to make up the shortfall and be overworked, she noted.
"They really are based on student need," she said. "Often there's students with a diagnosis of some sort, where they need specific help either academically or physical help during the day. Sometimes it's social and emotional help that a child needs to self-regulate themselves, so they can be in the best position for learning activities.
"Remaining staff would likely have more children they have to help serve. It means a lot more work for the remaining staff. Those responsibilities will fall on them."
Shared responsibility
ISC announced its on Feb. 10, which includes changes on how it processes requests. In a statement to SA国际影视传媒 on June 5, spokesperson for Indigenous Services Canada, Eric Head, said that as part of implementing JordanSA国际影视传媒檚 Principle, the responsibility to support First Nations children is shared among provincial, territorial and federal governments.
"Funding for school-related requests will only be approved if the requests can be clearly linked to the specific health, social or educational need of the First Nation child or if it is required as per the principle of substantive equality" said Head.
Head added that supports for off-reserve and private schools will be shifted to provincial or existing government-funded programs.
"Requests for First Nations children, whether on reserve or off reserve, can continue to be made to JordanSA国际影视传媒檚 Principle," said Head. "Each request is reviewed on a case-by-case basis based on the needs of the children involved with the request."
According to the NWT Bureau of Statistics, , and of that group, most are First Nations.
Education is at the heart of reconciliation with Canada, according to YKDFN.
Yellowknife North MLA Shauna Morgan said the district's situation is not entirely unexpected, adding it was a fairly dangerous strategy for the NWT to have a core piece of its education system be so dependent on one federally-funded program.
That said, Morgan noted the territory is still far from the collapse of its educational system. She said the federal government does have both a legal and moral obligation to support Indigenous students in the NWT, but the question is to what extent.
"Is there role just to provide extra supports in extraordinary circumstances? Or are we expecting them to provide significantly more supports to students than in other parts of the country on an ongoing basis?" she asked rhetorically.
Yellowknife Catholic Schools, on the other hand, is not anticipating any impacts next year based on adjustments to JordanSA国际影视传媒檚 Principle, according to superintendent Adam Murray.
"Our practice has been to seek multiple year requests therefore we are secure for the 2025-2026 school year. We have a range of roles and projects which provide specific support for students."
