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| Backgrounder(s) & FactSheet(s): | Backgrounder |
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| Backgrounder(s) & FactSheet(s): | Backgrounder |
VICTORIA
– Six public post-secondary
institutions are receiving $2.4 million from the Province for gathering places
that will support the growing number of Aboriginal students on campus and
reflect their unique cultures, Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell said
today.
“We’ve committed $15 million to help all of our
institutions either create gathering places or enhance the ones they have,
which will encourage more Aboriginal people to enrol in post-secondary
education, and help them succeed when they do,” Coell said. “These welcoming
areas reflect Aboriginal traditions, give students offices and lounges to meet
with mentors and each other – and show them they belong on the campuses of our
colleges, universities, university-colleges and institutes.”
The funding, part of the $65-million Aboriginal
post-secondary education strategy announced by Premier Gordon Campbell last
year, provides up to $600,000 to each of B.C.’s public post-secondary
institutions for gathering spaces. The first round of funding includes Northern
Lights College, Kwantlen University College, the College of the Rockies,
Langara College, the College of New Caledonia and Okanagan College.
“We are breaking
down the barriers that have prevented so many of our Aboriginal people from
being all they can be,” Coell said. “At the same time, we’re helping our
province meet skills shortages by making sure the growing number of young
Aboriginal people in B.C. have the knowledge and skills to build great
careers.”
More than 17,200 First Nation, Métis and Inuit students
attended B.C.’s public post-secondary institutions in 2007, an increase of more
than 16 per cent since 2002. However, according to B.C. Statistics, a
non-Aboriginal is five times as likely to have a university degree as an
Aboriginal person living on reserve, and almost three times more likely than an
Aboriginal person off reserve.
Improving quality and choice in education is a key pillar
of the Province’s Pacific Leadership Agenda. The gathering places funding also
supports B.C.’s commitments through the Transformative Change Accord and the
Métis Nation Relationship Accord to close the gaps by 2015 in education,
health, housing, and economic opportunities that separate Aboriginal British
Columbians from other citizens.
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Communications Director 250 952-6508 250 413-7316 (cell) |
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