Board wants Indigenous trustee

Request to be sent to province

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board will ask the province for permission to appoint an Indigenous trustee.

Trustees voted unanimously Tuesday to send a letter to the Ministry of Education asking for the change.

Trustee Wendy Hough said it was “important that we give voice to this group of people in a way that is fitting and in keeping with the spirit of truth and reconciliation in this country.”

She said there was no mechanism currently for the board to ensure Indigenous representation and it may not be simple to do, but asking the government to consider the issue is in itself groundbreaking.

An Ontario regulation allows boards that have education service agreements with a council or band to appoint a First Nations trustee. The Ottawa board does not have a service agreement, but can make a request to the Ministry of Education to change the regulation.

Trustee Rob Campbell said he liked the idea, but it raises complex issues.

“The clarity of the (regulation) means who exactly is represented becomes very clear, as opposed to trying to decide among Inuit and Métis and First Nations.

“In a sense, we could have three trustees.”

He said there is probably a wider debate to be had about whether representation by geography makes sense in today's world.

Campbell initially abstained when the issue was voted on at a board committee, but changed his mind after fellow trustees told him it was simply a letter that the province may or may not act upon in the future, and was intended as a message of solidarity and support for Indigenous people, he said.