CANADA: One country, many people,
flexible laws. To the naysayers, just look at the big picture, would it not be better for all of us if we were all on the same team? The team of Canadians, diversity yes, but one law that all must be governed by.
metalman.

Not long ago there was a Group of Students down South witch had one Wish to addend the same School as the others. Now we have a Group with a new Goal "We want to be on our own". Justification is, we are different .

If this school helps more students become literate, functioning members of society I am all for it. Having an under 50% rate of graduation is horrible and unacceptable.

Canada: One country, many diverse people protected by a lovely thing called the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Pick it up and read it sometime.

This is the greatest country in the world, and it got even greater today.

Go Carney Hill go!

Will the lesson structures and learning standards be the same as in the regular school system?
If it is not,that may not always be a good thing later on when competeing for a job.
Doesn't it say "you are different"?
And if standards are in fact the same,doesn't it isolate first nations kids from non-natives and once again say..."you are different"?
How are they to ever function in mainstream society if they are kept isolated from it during their school years, which are also some of their most formative years?
Are we not simply repeating a pattern here?

From the above

"The Aboriginal Choice School will be different from the main stream schools in the following ways:
· There will be an "elders in residence program", so there is a presence in the decision making both in the day to day operations and in the long term planning as the Elders Advisory Committee will work with the Parent Advisory Committee and the Aboriginal Education Board.
· There will be a special language program which will teach Lheildi dialect.
· Professional Aboriginal people who are involved in the community will be on site to provide role modelling.
· Aboriginal Art and culture program
· Development of theme based curriculum"
-----------------------------------
Read it carefully several times and try to understand it.

It is totally different from the residential schools of the early to mid 1900's when exactly the opposite was done. The objective was to take the aboriginal out of the person, remove the heritage. This is to maintain it, to keep it.

In many parts of the country we have French Immersion Schools, we have Catholic Schools, we have Jewish Schools. We even have an entire school system in Newfoundland that teaching a strange English dialect :-)

Why should we keep on denying First Nations the right to learn their language and keep it alive for as long as they need. Why should we not teach them their traditional art? Why should we not have elder advisors available to advise in a culture that passes on traditions not by books and museums but by oral history, by story telling.

We are a diverse culture. So are most other countries in the world. Most are revisiting their roots in the 21st century and re-establishing a more formal connection with those roots. We are not the only ones.

When visitors come to this country they wonder why our first nations are not respected. most countries have their traditional costumes that identify the connection to the local community and its history. We marvel at that when we travel the world. Others want to marvel at that when they visit us.

It is something to celebrate, not something to deny.

Anything that will help aboriginal students is good. The previous system was not working for them.

If the kids sleep over in the school, could this be called a "residential school"? Every one is equal but some are not. That works for me.

I do not like the Aboriginal Choice School as it is saying "you are different". I would like to see the aboriginal art, culture and dialect taught in all schools. Bring the elders end to all schools and have the students learn about the culture. That is how you enrich everyone without some being different.

How about a Lheildi immersion school? Their is no need to go back a hundred years and start this all over again. Sooner or later the first nations have to stop making excuses for lack of progress. Our public school system though it has it flaws, still gives every child a chance to excel in life if the opportunity is seized. It is almost pathetic with all the tax payers supported government handouts and treaty's that they still claim things are not fair! Not to mention if you are metis or status you are entitled to post secondary school free of charge as well as living support such as room and board, food and expenses. How much more do you need to succeed. Give this province's tax payers all the money back they have giving away and watch the progress we make with it.

Political/historical issues aside if this helps keep more native kids in school and benefits that community then I'm all for it. The graduation rate is unacceptable and I think a little more attention to social issues such as inadequate nutrition can be addressed here as well. Good news.

Well said gus,but I think you are missing the point,somewhat.
Nobody wants to deny first nations the right to learn their culture and their language.
But if we make an exception for one particular faction,should we not be making exceptions for all ethnic groups in Canada?
Is that where we will end up with this?
Do the taxpayers have an obligation to fund them all?
And your right,we are a very diverse culture here in Canada,but if we look at other countries,how much of what they are doing is to re-vist their roots is funded by the tax payers?
And do we use a different education format for all diiferent cultures?
Or do we maintain one standard for all?

I hear down the coast there is a school where they teach mandarin........

I always thought we were "Canadians" and all treated the same......I guess not. Different rules for different people ...it will wreck this country and is creating raciism at the same time.

Is this encouraging segregation and separatism? It would be best if we were one people, one language and one goal....equality and properity for all!

The Aboriginal Choice School is not restricted to aboriginal students. There's no segregation here.

Honestjoe - that is, as long as its your people, your language and your goal, eh?

HD: "I always thought we were "Canadians" and all treated the same......I guess not. Different rules for different people ...it will wreck this country and is creating racism at the same time."

Ummmm, do you know your history? Aboriginals have never been treated the same as other Canadians. First, due to agreements made with the government regarding their status and secondly due to racism.

You can't call no fair only when your side isn't coming in on top.

I have great Mao Jackets to sell to all those who want to be made from the same cookie cutter.

I am afraid that those who want everyone to be the same have it totally wrong. This is not North Korea! This not the melting pot of the USA. This is the nation where diversity is celebrated and we learn how to get along. It is a nation of multiculturalism, similar to countries like Switzerland where cultures with four distinct languages grow up together as a unified nation.

This is only the beginning. I can hardly wait to see schools from every race in Canada; of course we will all have a choice of which school to attend - right? After about one decade the rivalry will start and we will have gang wars between schools like we had in the fifties, only this time, it will be race related. Just what we have been supposedly trying to avoid. Or are we? Just think about how many races are here and how many tax dollars are needed to build schools for ALL of them. Grow up! One country, one people, one law. Assimilate or leave. Your race doesn't mean diddly to me regardless of you ancestry and I expect nothing special because of mine. I'm a Canadian first and anything else I might be is trivial. I din't have any choice about the blood that flows in my arteries and neither does anyone else. We all put our pants on the same way and regardless of what you may think we are not that different. Say it like it realy is: We are all self centered greedy humans---color and race is coincidental.

Diversity and acceptance of others who are different from us is a given for most of us, I know I was raised that way and believe in it today. Grade school in 60's Prince George had a fair sampling of creeds and colours, as children we all seemed to get along, I remember no rascism from kids or parents.
Maybe I lead a sheltered life, but I do not see the discrimination today against First Nations People that some claim is still prevalent. I just happen to disagree with what seems to have become a perpetual state of need from the aboriginal community. Granting special rights to any segment of a society is bound to create feelings of inequity in those who are not among the privileged.
Strictly an opinion.
metalman.

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!!!

Do you have a publisher for your science fiction, supertech?

This is not about blood. It is about culture. Of course, as we see every day in this city, culture is something that some do not understand.

BTW, I understand that Scots do not put pants on the same way. Let's banish the scoundrels!!

BTW supertech, in case you did not know, you do not have to go to that school or any other school for that matter. Neither do your children or your grandchildren or your nieces or nephews.

In fact, your taxes are not increasing because these kids are in another program or building, nor do they increase because some go to a French immersion school. It is still one child, one seat. Those kids are not taking anyone else's seat, nor is a seat left empty.

I know, it is a small backward little town we live in. Many still don't understand that larger cities have many more choices of how their children get schooled.

Jewish schools in Canada, in case you were not aware.
http://www.kosherdelight.com/CanadaJewishSchools.shtml

here is the web site of one of them
http://www.kdhs.org

Hopefully this does not tear your entire world apart supertech. LOL

When you get up tomorrow, supertech, count yourself among the blessed who can look down on everyone who is different than you.

My world fine; I just don't accept segregation on my tax dollar and you can bet the jewish school is privately funded as are many of them.
We should be Canadians first and last.

Segregation? Blacks to the back of the bus is segregation. Apartheid is segregation. Jewish ghettos are segregation. Residential schools that students HAVE to go to and are used for removing their cultural backgrounds are segregation.

A school program that is geared to a culture to enhance that culture is NOT segregation with the same meaning of the above mentioned examples.

If you do not understand the difference, I will accept that.

If you understand the difference quite well, and you push for the dismantling of such an effort, I will not accept that and fight the attitude to the best of my ability. It is the attitude of eradication of cultural differences which is no different than the intent of the residential schools of the Christian church with the support of the state.

"Generally, a situation that arises when members of different races mutually prefer to associate and do business with members of their own race would usually be described as separation or de facto separation of the races rather than segregation."

From a web site that differentiates between segregation and separation.

Here is an interesting situation for you to consider. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ruled on it and made the following decision: "the Mohawk government may adopt policies it deems necessary to ensure the survival of its people". Let us call it similar to the "affirmative action" policies.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/native+Then+leave+reserve+Mohawks/2515716/story.html