Educational poverty in Indigenous communities

Background/Question/Methods

The mandate of Tribal Colleges and Universities is to nurture tribal education and welfare authentic to the cultural identity and sovereignty of the Native communities that charter them.  Profound socioeconomic inequalities and systemic underfunding have trapped tribal students in reciprocal cycles of financial and educational poverty.  Despite The White House Initiative, signed in 2002, “ensuring that the nation's Tribal Colleges and Universities are more fully recognized and have full access to federal programs benefiting other higher education institutions,” Native American students (and Aboriginal students in Canada) remain the most underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  What can reverse this abysmal state of historical neglect and socio-economic poverty in Indigenous communities?

Results/Conclusions

A genuine commitment to Indigenous welfare and equitable access to education, as promised by federal treaties, can sustain traditional ecological knowledge and cultural wisdom to benefit not only Indigenous communities, but the scientific community and all society.  Place-based and community-oriented education and research at the nexus of Indigenous and western science can revitalize local communities and introduce environmental justice where federal programs have failed.  Respectful relationships, based on trust and reciprocity, must be a cornerstone of any sustainability initiatives linking ecological, Indigenous, and global communities.  Collaborations between the University of British Columbia with the Northwest Indian College and Homalco First Nation highlight what higher education can do to eradicate the unjust cycles of poverty that have plagued Indigenous communities ever since European contact.