Representing the Ontario Scholar Trustees Affiliation, two northern college students introduced the matter up with Ontario Training Minister Jill Dunlop this fall
Efforts are underway to deliver the place of Indigenous scholar trustee to each college board in Ontario, and two college students from Northern Ontario are main the cost.
Representing the Ontario Scholar Trustees Affiliation (OSTA), Tia Nootchtai and Nanak Sidhu met with Ontario Training Minister Jill Dunlop in October, and introduced up the matter of Indigenous scholar trustees, amongst different points.
Nootchtai, a Grade 12 scholar at Lockerby Composite Faculty, is the Rainbow District Faculty Board’s third Indigenous scholar trustee, with the board solely having created the position in 2022. She can also be the chair of the Indigenous Scholar Trustee Council for OSTA.
Sidhu is a Grade 12 scholar at Chippewa Secondary Faculty in North Bay, and the president of OSTA.
In keeping with the Ministry of Training, as of this college 12 months, there have been 18 Indigenous scholar trustees within the English public college boards (out of 31 boards), 4 in English Catholic college boards (out of 29), and none for both the French public (4 boards) or Catholic college boards (eight boards).
Nootchtai stated she was in a position to lay out to Dunlop “different reasons as to why we thought this was a very important topic,” and she or he was “super supportive.”
Sudbury.com reached out to Dunlop’s workplace, requesting an interview. We as an alternative acquired a written assertion from a spokesperson.
“Our government works with school boards, the federal government and First Nations, Métis and Inuit partners, organizations, and communities to support the academic success and well-being of students,” stated the assertion.
“While the election process and mandate of an Indigenous Student Trustees is determined at the board level, we are happy to see a growing number of boards have established the position of Indigenous Student Trustees and encourage all boards to support more Indigenous voices at the table.”
The concept of bringing Indigenous scholar trustees to all college boards throughout the province is simply one other step within the path in the direction of reality and reconciliation, Nootchtai stated.
Whereas she herself attends college off-reserve, Nootchtai stated she had roots within the distant northern group of Moose Manufacturing facility, and so she sees her position as a option to advocate for college kids in distant First Nations communities.
Whereas Nootchtai would like to see Indigenous scholar trustees applied in all college boards within the province this college 12 months, she accepts that’s not lifelike.
Whereas OSTA is working with particular person college boards to have the change made, “I think our goal at some point” can be having the place mandated throughout the province by the federal government, stated Sidhu.
“Of course, having an implementation mandated by the provincial Ministry of Education would be ideal, because then it leaves no wiggle room,” Nootchtai added.
Sidhu stated having Indigenous scholar trustees in any respect college boards in Ontario would give a voice that non-Indigenous scholar trustees “can’t entirely understand or represent, and it also just gives an easy access to advocate.”
“I’ve heard a couple school boards say in the past, like, ‘Oh, we don’t have a really high Indigenous population’,” he stated.
“Like, who cares? Still, it’s important for non-Indigenous students to learn about Indigenous education. I know my Indigenous student trustee, they teach a lot … It’s just such an easy pathway for students to be able to advocate for themselves and the issues that they’re seeing within their board.”
Throughout the Dec. 10 assembly of the Rainbow board, Nootchtai stated being the board’s Indigenous scholar trustee has been an “incredible journey thus far.”
“I’d like to acknowledge how proud I am to belong to a school board that Indigenous education is nothing short of a priority, and more specifically, the role of an Indigenous student trustee being established,” she stated.
“I say this as a result of I have been navigating plenty of challenges surrounding different boards throughout Ontario because the chair of the Indigenous scholar trustees council, and I have been working with now 15 scholar trustees from all throughout Ontario attempting to get an Indigenous scholar trustee applied of their college board.
“I’m very thankful to be a part of a school board that already has that position implemented, so I don’t have to fight for that right either.”
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She additionally covers schooling and the humanities scene.
