Founder of city's oldest adult literacy program frustrated by funding process
Kirsten Murphy
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Mar 09/01) - Tom Eagle is tired of waiting for handouts.
Not for him, but for the 20-year-old adult basic education program (ABE) run by the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre. A renovated trailer which sits beside Sir John Franklin high school serves as a classroom. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment funds the 10-month program.
 Tom Eagle |
"This is a proven investment in aboriginal education," he said. "I don't like this piecemeal service."
Eagle wants to bypass the annual and lengthy proposal writing process. He wants secured funding, a perk not often afforded to non-governmental organizations(NGOs) who traditionally limp from grant to grant.
"This is a very successful program. We have people going on to colleges, universities and into well paying jobs," Eagle said.
"As far as I'm concerned, no one can match our record."
Like other literacy programs, Tree of Peace's ABE classes are free. Each year, 16 aboriginal adults attend the school, with a First Nations angle, five days a week from September to June.
At the end of the school year students may write their graduation equivalency diploma (GED). Many do, and many go on to teach, drive truck, nurse and run a business.
Velma Popma, of Back Bay Welding, says Tree of Peace helped turn her life around.
Shortly after completing the ABE program in 1994, she received her GED. Now she co-owns Back Bay Welding.
"I was going to school with my own people so I felt more at ease. And because of my residential school experience I wasn't keen to have teachers tell me what to do," said Popma, who left school in Grade 7.
"I knew I had to further my education and this program helped me in a lot of ways."
Which is exactly what Eagle was trying to tell the government.
Direct funding needed
He wants in on the $2.4 million the Education, Culture and Employment department committed to literacy in the NWT last month. What he wants, is not what he's getting, Eagle says.
"I'm not going to take this sitting down. It really burns me," he said.
Aurora College is negotiating a $700,000 literacy deal for community-based programs throughout the NWT as part of the $2.4-million literacy strategy.
The rest of the money awaits allocation. If and when NGOs like Tree of Peace will receive money will involve calls for proposals.
Last week, Aurora College campus director Kathleen Purchase said once the paperwork is done, she hopes to work with NGOs.
Kept in the dark
Even so, no one has contacted Eagle.
Which further annoys the otherwise soft-spoken Eagle. If the government thinks Yellowknife's longest running adult education program is about to be swallowed by the college -- regardless of how well meaning the gesture might be -- they need to think again, he said.
"There will be a big fight. I can't see how (the college) holding the money is helping people to be independent," Eagle scoffed.
Helene Usherwood, Tree of Peace's ABE instructor for 10 years, is highly protective of her students and the program.
"Tom was ahead of his time when he started this program," Usherwood said.
Limited by cutbacks and an uncertain financial future, Usherwood is wondering if NGOs offering ABE and literacy programs, like the Yellowknive Dene First National and the NWT Women's Association, will see any of the $2.4 million.
"Students love these programs. They don't do well in non native classes," Usherwood said.
Lesley Allen, assistant deputy minister for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, said the $2.4 million is almost a done deal (pending budget approval). Now its time to find recipients in Yellowknife and througout the NWT.
"It could be done in many ways. Some NGOs are saying they're not set up to do specific things but we're offering to work with them," she said.
Eagle insists autonomy is a priority.
"I don't want anything to do with the college. We're independent. We're not kids."
