Aboriginal Institutes Policy

Aboriginal Institutes are First Nation owned and operated schools that form part of the Ontario post-secondary education system. The Aboriginal Institutes Consortium (AIC) was established in 1994, and is made up of nine Indigenous owned and controlled community-based educational institutes.

These Institutes are important resources for their communities and for Ontario generally, but historically they have had inadequate and unreliable funding. They therefore partnered with local colleges and universities to secure accreditation. For example, Six Nations Polytechnic has developed effective partnerships with McMaster University and Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario. Still, poor or unstable funding has resulted in unpredictable course offerings, the inability to effectively plan for the short and long term, hire and retain quality faculty and staff, maintain technology, library, and other resources, and to provide effective student services. Therefore, the AIC has worked towards securing sustainable funding, obtaining independent credit-granting authority (so Institutes do not require other institutions to accredit their offerings), and recognition as an integral part of Ontario’s postsecondary and training system.

Chiefs of Ontario supports Aboriginal Institutes as mandated in Chiefs in Assembly resolutions 98/16 (Aboriginal Institutes' Consortium Post-Secondary Education Recognition), 15/10 (Support for the Aboriginal Institutes Consortium Roadmap to Recognition for Aboriginal institutes), and 39/17 (2017 Post-Secondary Education Position Paper).

The AIC submitted a policy position paper in 2014 which the Ontario Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development (MAESD) responded to with a stand-alone policy. Today Aboriginal Institutes are recognized as part of the postsecondary and training system.

In October 2016, MAESD Minister Deb Matthews reconfirmed Ontario’s commitment to develop the Policy through a co-creation process. The Policy is being co-developed by the AIC and MAESD through a Policy Co-Creation Table (PCCT) established in December 2016. AIC created a Policy Co-Creation Table that has four working groups on 1) funding, 2) legal and recognition, 3) quality assurance and credential granting, and 4) engagement.

Ontario committed $56M over three years in Budget 2017 to expand Aboriginal Institutes, which is a significant increase from budgets 2015 and 2016. In addition, the stability of this funding over the three-year term will address some of the ongoing needs that AIs encounter.

To achieve greater recognition of AIs, the AIC can go through amendments or additions to existing legislation, policy development, or a combination of the two. The goal of the AIC and the MAESD is to have a policy in place by Spring 2018.