North a priority in boundary review

Critics in northern Saskatchewan say the province had taken a topdown approach to potential changes to school division boundaries in the region.

After the provincial budget was released on March 22, the Ministry of Education formed four committees to examine several aspects of the education sector, including division boundaries.

Education Minister Don Morgan said he’s heard from some communities in the north that say the current system isn’t working, including La Loche, where schools are operated by the Northern Lights School Division, based in La Ronge.

Some school officials have to fly or travel “significant distances” and back for school business, so examining boundaries in the north has been assigned as a priority and ministry staff have been told to “focus on the north first,” Morgan said.

The committee is also examining school division boundaries around Saskatoon and Regina. While there’s no timeline in place for those changes, they’ll likely be deferred “until after we know where we’re at with the northern ones,” he said.

Saskatchewan Rivers and the Northwest School Division are also involved in the work.

“If there is a timeline, it will be in the northern areas to get something underway for those people, because they’ve asked for it,” Morgan said.

No one from the Northern Lights School Division could be reached for comment.

Ile-a-la-Crosse School Division board chair Duane Favel said his board has had minimal communication with the committee, despite the fact its director of education is a sitting member. The division serves about 400 students, about 95 per cent of whom are First Nations and Metis.

“We need to be more involved, more engaged and we need to be full participants,” Favel said. “We know and understand our own communities best.”

He wants committee members to meet with local leadership and elders to form a plan, he said, noting his board would frown upon changes developed in the south and imposed on northern communities.

In response to a request for a followup interview with Morgan on Friday, the ministry issued a statement saying further consultations will take place with potentially affected communities “before any changes are implemented.”