The executive director for the Victoria Native Friendship Centre is calling for more multi-stakeholder meetings with the Greater Victoria district (61) school board today (Jan. 22), after the Four Houses within the district issued a statement saying the school board is contravening reconciliation priorities.
“The challenge for me, is that I as a member of the Urban Peoples’s Advisory, didn’t hear about this until December, until it was in the news and the nations were responding publicly about not being consulted," Ron Rice said.
During his conversation on CFAX 1070, Rice said the board seems intent on calling bluffs, and pushing limits, noting that Indigenous nations have a right to consultation, and Indigenous peoples have rights in education.
This situation arose after B.C.'s minister of education told the school board it needed to submit a new district safety plan. Throughout this process, the Songhees and Esquimalt nations have publicized several concerns about the school board's approach to this issue. Recently on CFAX 1070, the Esquimalt Nation's director of education said the school board has "no relationship" with her nation at this point.
The Four Houses in school district 61 include the Songhees Nation, the Esquimalt Nation, the Metis Nation of Greater Victoria (MNGV) and The Urban Peoples’ House Indigenous Advisory (UPHIA). The Victoria Native Friendship Centre is one of several Indigenous-led community organizations whose staff and management currently serves UPHIA.
The statement issued earlier this week (Jan. 20) suggests the school board’s lack of collaboration failed to uphold “commitments made within the current Education Agreements and SD61 Strategic plan to consult and communicate respectfully.”
Rice noted that the provincial government has frequently cited a commitment to the calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, along with the Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. For him, the school board’s shortfalls in upholding the Indigenous rights involved in this situation reflect on the province.
Rice also described some of his experience with the timeline of events during his appearance on CFAX 1070. He said he attended the mid-December information gathering meeting with the school board and special advisor.
“We sat for four and a half hours with the Four Houses, with police chiefs, with council representatives from the two host nations, and members of the board and the special advisor, talking about how we still have hope and faith in this process, and that we’re still willing to contribute.”
Rice was provided a copy of a drafted safety plan after that meeting. Today, he also commented on the substance of the safety plan draft he was shown, noting nuances and suggesting UPHIA could be satisfied with some elements of that draft.
“Both institutions, whether it is education or policing, comes with baggage as it relates to Indigenous peoples. And the reality of that is we need to grow and improve within that, and to absolutely toss out a program didn’t seem to make any sense to us.”
After the mid-December information gathering meeting, Rice said was aware the Four Houses would not be available to the school board until after Jan. 6. He said the school board had many written submissions from all parties to inform their work at that stage.
Meanwhile, education minister Lisa Beare had given the school board the deadline of Jan. 6 to submit a district safety plan that passed ministry standards. Ultimately, the school board appears to have moved forward with submitting its three safety plan drafts to the minister without informing the Four Houses of its plan to hand in more than one assignment.
Rice said he hopes "some eyes will be opened through this process," and called for more joint meetings to inform decisions moving forward.
Rice spoke more about his experience on CFAX 1070 with Adam Stirling.