Advocates say it’s a move 50 years in the making.
In 1972, the National Indian Brotherhood — now the Assembly of First Nations — issued a policy paper called Indian Control of Indian Education. In 2022, at least four First Nation groups in B.C. are getting that control.
While most education is a provincial responsibility in Canada, First Nations education is under federal jurisdiction. But in 2006, the federal government passed legislation to allow individual First Nations in B.C. to take it over.
Now, after 15 years of negotiations, it’s starting to happen.
It’s been a “long-standing quest,” said Debbie Jeffrey, executive director of
