Reserving my views on education systems

On my second night in Cape Breton we went to the Membertou Reserve Convention Centre for dinner. The Centre belongs to the Membertou First Nation.

From their website - Named after Grand Chief Membertou (1510-1611) the Membertou First Nation belongs to the greater tribal group of the Mi’kmaw Nation.

Membertou is situated in the city of Sydney, Nova Scotia, within its tribal district of Unamaki (Cape Breton). It is one of five Mi’kmaw (pronounced mi’gmaw) communities in Cape Breton, and one of thirteen in the Province of Nova Scotia.

It’s a really beautiful venue. A beautiful theatre and a gorgeous restaurant with a view of Sydney and beyond, the harbour. And of course the complex has a casino too. (There’s a long and convoluted history regarding the placement of casinos on Mi’kmaw Reserves and lots of fors and againsts which I am not going to get into now, not least because I haven’t figured out my own position on it). We had a pleasant few hours there, with dinner and then a meet and greet with local party members, but a few things struck me that night.

Why do reserves look the same?

As we drove into the reserve, one of the other women in the car and I looked up and at the same moment said ‘is this the reserve?’

You just know when you’re in a reserve. Because they all look the same. No matter where you are. Ontario. Manitoba. Alberta. Nova Scotia. A reserve looks like a reserve. Before you Irish readers get all misty eyed and think it's a hearkening back to the old day, a reserve is like a sub-division (suburb). Except there's something I can't put my finger on, that makes you know it is a First Nation Reserve. I was amazed that Canadians feel the same way too - I thought it was just me.

Don't get me wrong - it’s not like in Ireland, where all traveller halting sites look the same because they are all equally awful: grim concrete service areas, rubbish everywhere, scrap metal piled high, newly washed clothes hanging from bushes to dry, top of the range Land Rovers parked willy nilly, mixed with Hiace vans and other vehicles.

First Nation Reserves are not at all comparable to Irish traveller halting sites. They are made up of streets with houses that have decks, and barbeques, and cars parked outside, and children’s toys scattered on the lot – just like all Canadian streets. But they all look slightly different to other suburbs. And they (reserves) all look the same.

Very weird.

Nova Scotian education system

At the meet and greet I met a guy in the education field for whom we had been dealing with an issue, and I asked him whether it was sorted out and of course it was and he hadn't bothered to let me know.

One of the things that really pisses me off about working in politics is when people you help get sorted out and don’t bother to tell you. Why is that? Do they think you don’t care? I always remember how excited the constituency assistants in my old Irish party used to be the odd time they’d get a thank you note from a constituent they’d helped house or whatever.

Never mind.

We had a long conversation about the cost of university education in Canada, and in Nova Scotia in particular. Because it is more expensive in Nova Scotia. of course. There are eleven universities in Nova Scotia, several of which have an excellent reputation and score very high in the annual MacLeans university report card, so they have a net influx of students from other provinces. However, this means that the universities are severely underfunded, because the federal transfers for third level education go to the province in which the student grows up/ is domiciled, not the province in which they are studying.

Talk about a STOOPID policy.

So now, Nova Scotian students are starting to go to Newfoundland to uni, because a) it’s much cheaper, and b) it’s Party Central apparently.

A Nova Scotian will borrow up to $30 – 40,000 to go to university. And then have to pay it back when they start earning. Wages are crap in Nova Scotia, so they all go to Ontario or Alberta to work, so they can earn enough money to pay back their loan.

Talk about a STOOPID policy.

I’m actually going to stop talking about it now, because it makes me so annoyed. And that will make me start uttering heresies about healthcare and who should pay for it versus education and who should pay for it and then I’ll get thrown out of my political home in Canada.

Queenie will just say this: Canadians spend 40% of their budget on free public healthcare from the cradle to the grave, and 21% on education, which is so badly underfunded that students have to pay fees of up to $6,000 a term.

Irish people pay 30% of their budget on health, which is not free for everyone, and 22% on education, which is free up to degree level. Of course, most Irish people also have to pay huge private health insurance fees to enable hospital care, and get gouged by the health system who overcharge the health insurance companies, so it is probably closer to 40%. But that’s a whole other day’s question.

Today’s question is: what’s going on in Canadian education that free education up to degree level is not possible? I smell gouging going on somewhere, I do.