Mary Gardiner has been set up outside the Canoe Lake band office in a tent. Photo courtesy Mary Gardiner via Facebook.
A Canoe Lake First Nation woman is on the third week of a protest outside the Canoe Lake Band Office.
Mary Gardiner has been sleeping in a tent outside the building since August 24. At dispute is funding for her post-secondary education. She is a second-year nursing student who received the funding last year, but is not getting it this year.
Gardiner believes the band has the money to fund her, and says she is protesting because she has a treaty right to education.
“My grandchildren will be affected by this kind of treatment. If we don’t put an end to it now, they will be the ones suffering,” she told MBC News.
Canoe Lake Chief Francis Iron says it is their policy to provide new students with the education funding they receive.
He says this year, twelve Grade 12 grads were approved for funding, and these students take precedence.
According to the INAC website, it is up to the First Nation itself to determine the funding and selection criteria for any education funding provided to them.
Gardiner is making other claims about funding at the band office, but Chief Iron says these matters are currently before the courts and he is not willing to comment on them.
He does say when the court matter is finished, he has no problem opening the band’s books for anyone who wishes to see.