Internal documents suggest the Harper government downplayed health risks and wanted pricey PR advice after halting plans for new schools on native reserves.

The papers obtained by the New Democrats discuss hiring public relations giant Hill and Knowlton to help the government finesse what one official described as a tough subject to shine.

"We've been digging into this for weeks now and there is no straightforward, simple answer and it's not a good story," says an internal email dated Feb. 22, 2008.

It was written by Susan Bertrand, an Indian Affairs communications manager in Thunder Bay, Ont. She was referring to the government's decision a few months earlier to halt plans for a new elementary school on Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario.

Talks with the remote community had progressed over several months right down to the actual measurements of the project. But Attawapiskat — along with dozens of other projects to build new schools or renovate old ones — was put off in 2007, with the Conservatives blaming a cash crunch and rising construction costs.

The move was made despite an internal Indian Affairs document that cited overcrowding and "extensive repairs" needed on eight portables that have housed 400 elementary school pupils on Attawapiskat since 2000.

Their permanent school had been condemned and closed after a heating system funded by Indian Affairs leaked diesel fuel.

Indian Affairs now says a document outlining $28.5 million to be spent between 2009 and 2011 on the "priority" school project was merely a "draft proposal."

The document described "how funds might have been flowed if immediate health and safety concerns had been identified," said spokeswoman Patricia Valladao.

She said a safety inspection last June 24 and an air quality test this month found no immediate health risks.

'Communications strategy'

Still, bruising questions from opposition MPs on the state of native education had Indian Affairs communications staff considering high-priced help.

A weekly issues management report produced last March says: "School issues in Ontario Region are garnering increasing media attention. It is also expected that school issues in other regions may also begin to be raised. For this reason, headquarters communications is hiring a PR firm, Hill and Knowlton, to develop a communications strategy and related products to address this issue."

A spokesman for Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl said that despite such talk, no contract with the PR firm was ever signed. Ted Yeomans also stressed that the Conservatives have committed $250 million for 15 new schools and 10 major renovations.

The Assembly of First Nations says at least 40 reserves have no schools and many more need major repairs.

Strahl has repeatedly said that Ottawa spent $3 million on Attawapiskat's mobile classrooms and $250,000 on high school renovations to help house the elementary pupils.

"There are no health concerns in that particular school," he said in the House of Commons on Jan. 31, 2008.

Strahl was asked about Attawapiskat in a televised interview last March 9. His handling of the questions drew this comment in an email from Anne Van Dusen, an Indian Affairs communications manager:

"FYI, I think we have successfully moved away from focusing on the [Health Canada] health and safety inspection message."

Lack of supplies, space

Nora Lake, who teaches 26 Grade 1 pupils at Attawapiskat, said it's not unusual for metal fire escape doors to freeze shut as the mercury plunges below -30 C. Frost often covers the door at the back of her portable, away from the front area where she keeps the heat jacked up.

"I work with primary kids so you need to have them on the floor in front of you and there's always a real cold draft."

Supplies are scarce and there's no room to set up workstations for individualized programs, Lake said.

Some kids are coming to school from three-bedroom bungalows that house up to 30 people, she noted.

"I think unless we can kind of adapt the program to meet the individual needs, the children are just going to become frustrated and give up. This is what I see. They have a good group of teachers here. We're working very, very hard to make a difference for those kids. But it would be nice to have a good facility and resources to teach them.

"They deserve more."