This article was first published by Sudbury.com, a Village Media publication.
Efforts are underway to bring the position of Indigenous student trustee to every school board in Ontario, and two students from Northern Ontario are leading the charge.
Representing the Ontario Student Trustees' Association (OSTA-AECO), Tia Nootchtai and Nanak Sidhu met with Ontario Education Minister Jill Dunlop in October, and brought up the matter of Indigenous student trustees, among other issues.
Nootchtai, a Grade 12 student at Lockerby Composite School, is the Rainbow District School Board’s third Indigenous student trustee, with the board only having created the role in 2022. She is also the chair of the Indigenous Student Trustees' Council for OSTA-AECO.
Sidhu is a Grade 12 student at Chippewa Secondary School in North Bay, and the president of OSTA-AECO.
According to the Ministry of Education, as of this school year, there were 18 Indigenous student trustees in the English public school boards (out of 31 boards), four in English Catholic school boards (out of 29), and none for either the French public (four boards) or Catholic school boards (eight boards).
Nootchtai said she was able to lay out to Dunlop “different reasons as to why we thought this was a very important topic,” and she was “super supportive.”
Sudbury.com reached out to Dunlop’s office, requesting an interview. We instead received a written statement 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,” said the statement.
“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 idea of bringing Indigenous student trustees to all school boards across the province is just another step in the path towards truth and reconciliation, Nootchtai said.
While she herself attends school off-reserve, Nootchtai said she had roots in the remote northern community of Moose Factory, and so she sees her role as a way to advocate for students in remote First Nations communities.
While Nootchtai would love to see Indigenous student trustees implemented in all school boards in the province this school year, she accepts that’s not realistic.
While OSTA is working with individual school boards to have the change made, “I think our goal at some point” would be having the position mandated across the province by the government, said 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 said having Indigenous student trustees at all school boards in Ontario would give a voice that non-Indigenous student 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 said.
“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.”
During the Dec. 10 meeting of the Rainbow board, Nootchtai said being the board’s Indigenous student 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 said.
“I say this because I've been navigating a lot of challenges surrounding other boards all over Ontario as the chair of the Indigenous student trustees council, and I've been working with now 15 student trustees from all across Ontario trying to get an Indigenous student trustee implemented in their school 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 also covers education and the arts scene.
