Indigenous students will continue to be a top priority for the board as long as graduation rates for Aboriginal students aren’t on par with non-Aboriginal students, said Thames Valley District School Board chair Matt Reid. (Dave Chidley/CBC)
The Thames Valley District School Board says it has created the first Indigenous student trustee position in Canada in an an attempt to put an ‘Indigenous voice at the table at all times.’
The board voted to create the position back in May and is currently taking applications for the position from students who self-identify as Indigenous, Métis or Inuit until September 25, with a debate and vote scheduled for September 28.
The move will create another permanent student trustee position on the board, increasing the number of students on the board from two to three.
Matt Reid, the chair of the Thames Valley District School Board, said it’s important to have a student voice on the board with an Indigenous background in order to meet that community’s unique education needs.
Voice at the table
“It’s not to say that the other student trustees aren’t able to speak up for Aboriginal and Indigenous students, but having that voice at the table is definitely going to help us,” he said.
Reid said the move will help the board achieve some of the calls to action put forth by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which made recommendations on how to close the gap in education between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students in Canada.
“We have Aboriginal students in all our schools, not just in certain pockets,” he said. “I think having our First Nations students share their culture with other students it helps bridge those gaps and break down barriers and embrace the diversity we really want to have in our schools.”
The Thames Valley District School Board has made a number of efforts to try to get students who self-identify as Indigenous more engaged, including creating an Indigenous inspired playground at London’s CC Caruthers Public School and hiring a third Indigenous guidance counsellor.
Reid said that Indigenous students will continue to be a top priority for the board as long as graduation rates for Aboriginal students aren’t on par with non-Aboriginal students.
“If you look at the data their graduates tend to be much lower than non-Indigenous students and their credit accumulation rates tend to be much lower. There’s a lot more work we need to do,” he said.