Dedicated to the thousands of people –both Indigenous and non-Indigenous — who were good and honourable servants to the children in Canada’s Indian residential school and hostels.
Rodney Clifton
Bill 64 Won’t Destroy Public Education
Manitoba’s public education is about to undergo its biggest overhaul in more than 60 years. Bill 64, the Education Modernization Act, will see to that. Not surprisingly, this bill has attracted the ire of several unions, politicians and journalists. The Manitoba...
A Meaningful Job is the Only Way Forward for First Nations People
There is little doubt that the condition of Indigenous people is desperate in Canada, especially for those living in the 600 or so small isolated First Nations communities. Most Canadians know some facts about the quality of lives of the people in these communities,...
Homeschooling is an Option
Many parents are frustrated by the limited educational choices their children have right now. For example, a recent article in the Calgary Herald (Ferguson, “Parents regretting in-person classes with no options to go online”), suggests that parents are concerned...
Featured News
The Man who Saved the Plains Indians
At the time of Confederation, Canada’s Plains Indians were in a desperate situation. The same European-introduced guns and horses that resulted in a briefly glorious golden age for them had also resulted in constant inter-tribal warfare and the rapid disappearance of...
Renewed Talk of Abolishing the Indian Act
Political attacks on the Indian Act are back in the news, and that is a good thing. However, Canadian politicians, including First Nation politicians, need a credible plan about what to do before we pull out the champagne. Attacking the Indian Act is not a big deal...
Costs Soaring in Canada’s Schools
A new study jointly published today by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies shows that per-pupil education costs are soaring all across Canada. As taxpayers shoulder an ever-increasing burden, there is little evidence...
It’s time to end the education funding shell game
The shell game is a popular trick that dates back to ancient Greece. A magician places a pea underneath one of three shells. He then rapidly moves the three shells around while those watching try to guess which shell has the pea. More often than not, onlookers guess...
It’s Not About the Class Size in Calgary Schools
Calgary's municipal election on Monday saw at least two new trustees elected to Calgary Board of Education (CBE). Waiting for them is a slew of concerns ranging from how money is spent to transparency to the apparent 'big issue' of class sizes. But, the recent debate...
Do the numbers add up in Ontario public schools?
Mark Milke, in Tax Me I'm Canadian! Your Money and How Politicians Spend It, has a good point. Canadians are paying too much and getting way too little in return. But Ontario government's continuous expansion of its commitment to education and education spending...
Education Schools Need to Drop the Edu-Babble
Anyone who wishes to become a teacher in Canada must hold a valid teaching certificate. In order to qualify, prospective teachers must complete a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree from an accredited faculty of education. Since education schools hold a monopoly over...
The Cost Disease in Manitoba Public Schools
William Baumol, professor emeritus of economics at Princeton University, is the author of The Cost Disease, a book that all policy-makers should study. Building on forty years of research, Professor Baumol argues that the cost of social services, health care,...
In the Heart of Edu-Babble
Executive Summary • Anyone who wishes to become a teacher in Canada must hold a valid teaching certificate. In order to qualify for a teaching certificate, prospective teachers must complete a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree from a recognized institution. •...
In the Heart of Edu-Babble
Today the Frontier Centre released In the Heart of Edu-Babble. Anyone who wants to become a teacher in Canada must earn a bachelor of education degree from an education faculty. Their guaranteed clientele gives education faculties an incredible amount of influence...
Vouchers Should be Used to Fund Education
How do parents know if schools are good or bad? Parents tend to evaluate schools based on how well their kids master important academic skills such as reading and writing. How do taxpayers know if schools are good or bad? Taxpayers are more likely to think about how...