Family calls for changes at Cree School Board after son suffers crisis at college

A family from northern Quebec says gaps in service and support at the Cree School Board had serious consequences for a young student with lots of potential and dreams of being a doctor.

Khayden Carter Dick is from Whapmagoostui, a fly-in community and the most northern of the Cree towns in Quebec. Two years in a row, Dick was awarded a Governor General's Academic Medal, which recognizes students who achieve high levels of academic success in high school, college or university. 

He is currently in a one-year, pre-health sciences program at Algonquin College in Ottawa and wants to become a pediatric or heart doctor, skills his community and nation desperately need.

However, early in the new year, Post-Secondary Student Services (PSSS) at the Cree School Board cut his funding, according to the family, after Dick failed two of his courses in the fall semester and missed a deadline to file some monthly paperwork on time.

"Having the feeling that I failed for the first time in my life really put me down hard. It really hurt me deeply," said Dick, 18. 

The Cree School Board supports Cree full-time or part-students who wants to pursue post-secondary education in the South. 

According to the board's website, a full-time student is eligible for a living allowance, travel assistance and tuition and textbook aid. A minimum of four courses is needed to be considered a full-time student. A part-time student is eligible to have their tuition, required textbooks and registration fees paid.

After Khayden failed the two courses in his first semester, his course load fell to three. His family says that when his funding was cut off, he added a fourth course, but was told by PSSS that he was only adding a course to get his funding back and it was rejected. 

Both Khayden's parents say they informed the board in writing of Khayden's situation several times, to no effect. They say eventually the board stopped responding to their messages.

Feeling like they were out of options, the family went public and set up a GoFundMe page to try and help Khayden finish his semester, pay off his debts and get back on track. A few days later they were informed by the board that Khayden's funding would be reinstated, but that he would need to pay off some outstanding debts. 

Khayden described how he had become overwhelmed by schoolwork in Ottawa, on top of all the life-management tasks he was suddenly responsible for for the first time in his life. 

Unable to pay his rent and school tuition, alone in Ottawa, and needing to walk 30 minutes each way to school because of an expired bus pass, Dick was often stuck in his apartment by himself without resources to do anything. Seventeen years old at the time, he was depressed, anxious and incapable of sharing much of what he was going through with his family. 

He found himself increasingly unable to focus on his schoolwork.

"Everything was so hard at the beginning of this year, mentally. It just added more stress when they cut me off [financially]," said Dick.