Candidate angry on-reserve members can't vote in western Manitoba school board byelection
CBC
A First Nations father hoping to become a trustee for a western Manitoba school board that's been embroiled in controversy over residential school comments says he was dismayed to learn many First Nations residents in the area can't vote in an upcoming byelection.
Scott Lynxleg, a member of Tootinaowaziibeeng First Nation, just northeast of Roblin, says he's angry and sad after discovering on-reserve members of First Nations aren't eligible to nominate or vote for candidates in the Oct. 30 byelection to fill four positions on the board of the Dauphin-area Mountain View School Division.
The seats were left vacant following a mass exodus that came in the wake of a trustee's controversial April presentation on residential schools.
"It feels wrong that our kids go to school in Mountain [View] School Division in grades 9 to 12 … [but] we have no representation," said Lynxleg, who splits his time between Dauphin and Tootinaowaziibeeng First Nation.
"I have no power … and the government, they don't listen to us."
Lynxleg, who has children and grandchildren in the school division, says he gathered more than 40 signatures for his nomination to run for the board.
While he still met the 25-signature requirement, he ended up with fewer signatures then he expected, since Tootinaowaziibeeng First Nation band members living on-reserve cannot nominate or vote for Mountain View trustees.
Under the Public Schools Act, trustee elections follow the same rules as a municipal election. That means anyone residing within a First Nation's reserve does not qualify to vote because they are outside municipal boundaries.
Extending voting rights to those living on-reserve Tootinaowaziibeeng members would require an agreement between the school board and the First Nation.
Several Manitoba school divisions have entered into those types of agreements, a provincial spokesperson told CBC in an email.
That won't likely be possible for the upcoming byelection, but Lynxleg hopes an agreement is struck before the next election, in two years.
He wonders why nothing was done sooner to ensure Tootinaowaziibeeng members have a say in the byelection, and says it's a reminder that Indigenous people still face systemic injustices.
In a statement to CBC News, a spokesperson for Education Minister Nello Altomare said the province is looking into the issue.
The school division did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
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