Diane Jules and Heather Grieve (image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

EDUCATION AGREEMENT

SD73 celebrates student success, renews Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement

Feb 22, 2024 | 5:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — A new five-year agreement was signed on Thursday (Feb. 22) morning, outlining the work being undertaken by the public school board and the Aboriginal Education Council in Kamloops.

For more than 20 years, the board and council have worked together to improve the education system for Indigenous students and allow them to thrive. The Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement acknowledges that aboriginal student success depends on the Aboriginal Education Council of the seven First Nations and Métis nations determining the goals and outcomes of success for their children.

“We just started that process — 30 years for us is a short time,” said Kamloops-Thompson School District Trustee and Chair of the Aboriginal Education Council Diane Jules. “And as we say, it takes seven generations to make a change and we are into one generation so we have six more to go. I think SD73 moving together in a partnership with the aboriginal communities and also with the Metis population within the district — I think it’s quite important to have that voice at the district table in regards of the aboriginal successes we are looking to within our district.”

The model of an aboriginal education council is one being spread throughout the province, but in Kamloops, the work starting back in the 1990s.

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Overall, the enhancement agreement helps ensure aboriginal students are in a place to succeed throughout the K-12 system and after graduation.

“The Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement is hugely important when we look at graduation rates for indigenous students, aboriginal students and Metis students,” said SD73 Board Chair Heather Grieve. “Traditionally, we have had a higher rate than [B.C.], which is fantastic but we need to take a deeper dive into looking at, is it Dogwood graduation or equivalency? What are we actually looking at when students are coming out? (It’s) the importance of having student prepared to be able to achieve their goals.”