Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) and the First Nation Education in Canada: International Implications

Abstract

The Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) ignores the federal government of Canada's constitutional responsibilities in education. It incorrectly references the Constitution Act of 1867 to state that education in Canada is constitutionally an exclusive provincial/territorial responsibility. The CMEC represents Canada with international organizations (e.g., Organization for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and at international education conferences and meetings. The international community has no reason to question the federal government on education due to the CMEC's insistence that it is an exclusive provincial/territorial responsibility. The purpose of this paper is to examine the refusal of the CMEC to acknowledge that the Canadian constitution gives education to both the federal and provincial/territorial governments. This refusal results in a very distorted image of education in Canada to both Canadians and to the world community. Canada's rankings in national comparisons, i.e., Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) would drop dramatically if federal schools (i.e., First Nation) were used. Canada and the Department of External Affairs". This agreement allows the CMEC to represent Canada at "education-related international activities" [2]. This document also outlines the "cooperative relationship" between these two organizations. The agreement emphasized the division of jurisdictions as it was stressed "All such statements will take full account of federal jurisdiction for external affairs and provincial jurisdiction in relation to education". In the preamble of Section B-Mandate titled Federal-Provincial Consultative Committee on Education-Related International Activities "Noting the jurisdiction of the provinces in the field of education, …" [2] This last statement of provincial jurisdiction in education is incorrect. The purpose of this paper is to examine the refusal of the CMEC to acknowledge that the Canadian constitution (i.e., Constitution Act, 1982) gives education to both the federal and provincial/territorial governments. This refusal results in a very distorted image of education in Canada to both Canadians and to the world community. Canada's rankings in national comparisons would drop dramatically if federal schools (i.e., First Nations) were used. 2. Literature Review On July 18, 2014, I opened the English language home web page (http://www.cmec.ca/en/) of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) and was welcomed to the site with the statement "Welcome to the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada-Providing national leadership in education for over 40 years." [3] Under the heading 'Education in Canada', a map of Canada indicated that readers should "Click on a province or territory for information". For example, after clicking on Ontario, information on Ontario's Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, names of Ministers, web pages...