Program in Canada Funds Fewer Indigenous Students

The number of indigenous students attending higher education paid for by a federal program in Canada has dropped by 18.3 percent since 1997, even as the First Nations and Inuit populations have grown, the CBC reported. The First Nations population has grown 29 percent since 1997.

Funding for the federal program “stagnated” after the introduction of a 2 percent annual cap on spending increases in the indigenous affairs department in the 1990s. The average price of tuition has more than doubled since that time.