Jordan's Principle under scrutiny as educational assistants face layoffs
The article discusses the implications of educational assistant layoffs impacting support for First Nations children under Jordan's Principle. It highlights how these changes affect the entire classroom environment.
The policy is named after Jordan River Anderson, a Cree child from Norway House Cree Nation in Manitoba, who was born in 1999 with multiple disabilities. The federal and provincial governments could not agree on which would pay for his home-based care, so he stayed in hospital until he died at the age of five.
Canada has a legal obligation under Jordan's Principle to ensure that First Nations kids receive government support without delay, despite any jurisdictional disputes.
STF president Samantha Becotte said educational assistants help in the classroom in a variety of ways; the ones who are funded through Jordan's Principle are usually assigned to individual students to support their learning or behavioural needs.
"When you remove that support, the responsibility gets shifted to the teacher in the class who has upwards of 30 or 35, sometimes 40 other students that need supporting," she said, adding that teachers have had to triage the needs of the students when supports aren't available.
In that way, these layoffs will affect entire classrooms, she said.
"(EAs) may be providing support for individual students, but that support also then permeates throughout the classroom. Having an additional adult in the room is a critical support for so many classrooms," Becotte said.
