Historical Background

Since 1988, Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) funded First Nations education via the Band-Operated Funding Formula (BOFF). While BOFF provided a structured approach to funding, it did not account for critical educational components such as:

• Libraries
• Technology
• Language immersion
• Extracurricular sports or recreation programs
• Student transportation
• Employee benefits packages

To address these gaps, ISC created several proposal-driven programs, such as New Paths, High-Cost Special Education, Parental Engagement, and Teacher Recruitment and Retention. However, these programs were highly competitive, often forcing First Nations to compete for limited resources. This created inequity among funding provided for education from one community to the next, as only those with the capacity to develop proposals received the increased supports.

Additionally, for over twenty years, education funding for First Nations was capped at a 2% annual increase. This limitation prevented funding from keeping pace with the growing First Nations student population and rising educational costs, such as teacher salaries and school supplies.

Steps Towards Education Transformation

The Federal Budget 2016 provided $824.1M in funding for education transformation, which included support for:

• Alternative education service delivery models
• Start-up funding for transformation initiatives
• Development of new education system agreements

First Nation Education Transformation Policy Proposal

In 2017, the AFN National Indian Education Council (NIEC) and Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) co-developed the First Nation Education Transformation policy proposal.  This resulted in a new funding approach to support First Nations K-12 education.  The new approach to funding replaces ISC’s outdated funding methodology, which included an antiquated formula supplemented by several proposal-based programs, with a more comprehensive funding model..  The funding formula portion of the new model is based on mainstream provincial education funding models to move First Nations education funding towards provincial comparability.

Click on the link for the Assembly of First Nations 2017  Policy Proposal 

Interim Funding Approach

In 2019, the Interim Funding Approach (IFA), also known as the Interim Funding Formula (IFF) or the Interim Regional Funding Formula (IRFF) was implemented. In Ontario, the IFA is based on the Ontario Grants for Student Needs (GSN) with enhancements for language and culture, full day kindergarten and before and after school programming.  The IFA will apply until First Nations negotiate and conclude Regional Education Agreements (REAs), or other types of arrangements with the federal government.

The GSN is used by the province of Ontario to provide funding to school boards, which supports education in the provincial setting.  The GSN is a series of grants based on the demographic and geographic environment in which services are delivered to students. It responds to variable cost factors such as school size, remoteness, language and culture, socio-economic status, and incidence rates for vulnerable students and students with special needs.  The GSN is adjusted annually responding to provincial budget announcements and new regulations.  These adjustments are applied annually to the IFA as well.

The IFA determines allocations for First Nations education based on an approximation of how much funding First Nations would receive if the provincial formula was applied to on-reserve education.  The IFA is not prescriptive; First Nations create budgets around their community’s education priorities and the funding generated by the formula.

In April 2024, the Ministry of Education restructured the GSN and introduced the Core Education Funding (Core Ed) to streamline the funding formula.

Click on the link for the Ontario Ministry of Education Guide to core education funding: 2024–25 school year for an overview of the funds and allocations that make up this funding to provincial school boards.

Click on the link for the Ontario Ministry of Education Technical Guide for School Boards 2024-25

Ontario Technical Table – Interim Funding Approach (OTTIFA)

While education transformation was a step in the direct of provincial comparability for First Nations education, it is not perfect.  There are some challenges with the IFA as the Core Ed (formally called the GSN) was designed to allocate funding to school boards not individual schools and provincial comparability standards are inadequate to achieve substantive equality and improved outcomes for our learners. However, it enables a starting point to inform discussions with respect to what specific enhancements and adaptations are required to address the unique context and specific needs of First Nations schools and students.

To support this process, COO Resolution 51-18 mandates the Ontario Technical Table on the Interim Funding Approach (OTTIFA) to examine the components of the IFA and provide recommendations for enhancements and adaptations to better meet the needs of First Nation learners, schools and communities.  OTTIFA is a bilateral commitment to collaborative work between First Nations in Ontario and Indigenous Services Canada (ISC).

Click on the link for the November 2018, Resolution Interim Funding Approach for First Nation Education

OTTIFA Task Teams

To fulfill the mandate, OTTIFA determines annual priority areas and establishes Task Teams to address a specific priority area.  The Task Teams consist of community subject matter experts, OTTIFA members and ISC staff.  Task Teams meet to examine their area of focus and provide recommendations to OTTIFA for an enhancement or adaptation to meet the unique needs of our learners and communities.

Current OTTIFA Task Teams are working to address the following priority areas:

• Special Education
• Achievement Gap
• Students Over 21/Adult Education
• Provincial Student Supports
• First Nation Education Authorities

Click here for the  OTTIFA Terms of Reference

Regional Education Agreements (REA)

The 2017 co-developed First Nation Education Transformation policy proposal indicates that First Nation’s education funding will be under the IFA until a Regional Education Agreement (REA) is in place.  REA’s are a mechanism to allow First Nations or a group of First Nations the opportunity to develop their own K-12 education system.  Through this process First Nations would design an education system that addresses the education goals and priorities of the community (or group of communities) and establish education service providers to support their students.  The IFA would provide the funding base for a REA and additional funding asks would be negotiated with ISC.

Where a First Nation chooses to enter into REA negotiations, ISC mandates that a REA address the following 4 pillars:

• comprehensive funding arrangements, covering all federal support for First Nations elementary and secondary education, including special education and education supports for languages
• clear and defined roles and responsibilities of the parties to the REA, including applicable service standards, as determined by First Nations
• mutual accountabilities mechanisms with clear objectives, performance indicators, and reporting expectations for both the Government of Canada and First Nations education system participants
• First Nations will give direction to outline processes of working with ministries of education to ensure quality education is provided to First Nations students attending provincial, private or territorial schools

Funding is available annually from ISC for First Nations wishing to develop REAs.  More information on this proposal- based program can be found here:

Link the ISC REA guidelines