Community committees allow Yukon First Nations to have more say over schools

The First Nation School Board in the Yukon is taking steps to involve communities more in the decisions over their schools.(Gabrielle Plonka/CBC)

Local First Nation governments appoint members to the committees

The First Nation School Board (FNSB) in Yukon is making a way for communities to have more power over their local schools.

Community committees are subcommittees of the FNSB and the members are appointed by local First Nation governments.

FNSB executive director Melissa Flynn says the goal is to pass authority onto the communities.

“The community committee differs from the traditional school council.

We [the FNSB] enter into an agreement with the First Nations and so it’s bringing back that authentic co-governance … around management and operations of the school on their traditional territories,” she said.

The committees have legal authority under the territory’s Education Act, Flynn said.

The FNSB operates 11 schools, and last year it established its first two community committees. Three schools in Beaver Creek and Watson Lake are currently looking for committee members, and committees for Grey Mountain and Takhini Elementary in Whitehorse are opening for applications in September.

Colleen Joe-Titus, chair of the committee for Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, says she’s experienced first-hand how the committees can give First Nations a greater say in school governance.

“[It’s] ensuring that our voices are being heard, within the education system, and you know, in some communities they may not have always … [had] that kind of direct link to the school, [or] to the First Nation School Board,” she said.

The committee for Champagne and Aishihik First Nations makes decisions based on feedback from citizens, which allows it to bring in the nation’s teachings and knowledge, Joe-Titus said.

“[For] many of the families in, you know, in Dakwäkäda — in Haines Junction — and the Champagne and Aisihik community, these are important teachings.”

One such decision for Joe-Titus’s community included pushing back the start of the school year so families could spend more time on the land. Last year, it also cancelled prom so that people would have time to mourn what were then recent deaths in the community.

Joe-Titus said the committee model is a sharp departure from how schools were run for previous generations of students, and that they offer an opportunity to shape the future.

“Many of us know our history of residential schools or mission schools, which, you know, my parents both went through that,” she said.

“We have an opportunity now to go down a new path together. And to be able to do that in a very respectful way, and to allow for these world views, our voices to be heard.”