Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) unanimously passed a motion to consider options to support Kawenni:io Private School (KGPS) and its efforts to construct a new school building at the cost of $31.5 million.
KGPS is a native language immersion school that has been in operation since 1986, and has been without a building of their own for over a decade. The school currently operates from the second floor of the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena and is the only school in Canada that offers Cayuga and Mohawk languages from kindergarten through Grade 12. In June, the school received accreditation for its secondary school students.
During the Sept. 12 General Council Meeting, KGPS board members informed SNEC that the school was denied funding from Infrastructure Canada’s Green and Inclusive Community Buildings program. The school says on its website that the estimated cost for the new school to be built is $31.5 million and with already $3 million raised the school says “design brief has been completed and architectural drawings have been completed and that site work began in fall of 2022.”
Coun. Hazel Johnson believes that the government will never provide the funding needed to construct the new school and says KGPS is continuing to face these issues when trying to obtain funding on this project.
“To get a letter that says you can’t ask anymore questions, there’s something fishy about that,” she said.
“They’re going to keep saying ‘no’, it doesn’t matter how many times that you fill out an application and ask for funding for this school,” she added. “They’re going to keep saying ‘no’.”
Johnson suggested to the entire SNEC that alternative options for obtaining funding be explored, including supporting the school in obtaining a bank loan or withholding excise tax dollars from the government and instead using those funds to support KGPS to construct it’s new building.
“I’m going to suggest that this council back a loan from a bank, the banks are willing to give them a loan. It’s just us [SNEC] that have to be in approval of it to co-sign for them,” she said.
“Why don’t we just not send $30 million to the government of the GRE (Grand River Enterprises) tax money that they submit. Just give it to Kawenni:io and let them start building next week. There’s two good options, but we need to be firm in our stance.”
SNEC voted to bring the resolution back to the next SNEC General Finance meeting scheduled on Sept. 18 for the Six Nations finance team to consider supporting KGPS and their efforts to build the new school building.
CJKS reached out to Infrastructure Canada for comment but they were unavailable before publication. CJKS will be following this story.
