After several pieces of correspondence and attendance at multiple school board meetings, Carrier Sekani Tribal Chief Terry Teegee says he’s run out of patience with the state of Aboriginal Education in School Didstrict 57.
“The next steps for us at the Carrier Sekani is to look at talking to legal counsel and also to meet with the other organizations who were part of the original aboriginal education board and to see where they’re at because I know they’re not too happy.”
Teegee and other local aboriginal groups have been lobbying the school board to reinstate the Aboriginal Education board that was disbanded two years ago. Despite multiple letters to council and appearances at School Board Meetings, Teegee says he and other groups are dissatisfied with the board’s response to their concerns.
“Many of the issues that I’m bringing up are about accountability and where is the funding utilized. This has always been an issue with this current administration. The original Ab-Ed Board was very accountable and very well understood. There’s an allocation of funding there and it’s not utilized properly. I think that was the real intent of the original Ab-Ed board and I don’t see that happening here. Once again, I’m bringing up these same issues and I haven’t heard answers from the school district.”
Teegee says he has received correspondence from the school board indicating they are planning to reinstitute some kind of aboriginal education committee.
“They haven’t asked me nor any of the other organizations on the original Aboriginal Education Board our input in terms of how this new committee will be structured. As far as I know, they’ll be choosing from Lheidli T’enneh and other organizations from McLeod Lake, choosing some elders there.”
That’s not enough representation for the many First Nations who have students in School District 57’s schools, according to Teegee.
“The issue I have is that we have well over 1,000 students that come from the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council and there really is no input for our children and that issue has come up, not only on behalf of our communities, but also many parents that come from our territories. There is no voice for the students that I represent. There’s nobody at the table to make sure that our kids’ issues are being addressed and that’s fundamentally an issue here.”
According to the district’s Aboriginal Education Department, there are 3,580 aboriginal-identified students enrolled in its schools.
Teegee says the Carrier Sekani and other First Nations groups want the former Aboriginal Education Board reinstated to provide accountability and input on education for aboriginal students.
He says the current school board’s responses to their concerns, particularly around how dedicated fund for aboriginal education are being spent, have not been adequate.
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