(file photo/Vernon Matters Staff)

By Liam Verster

Catchment Boundary

Vernon School District working on OKIB request to expand boundary

Jan 25, 2023 | 12:00 PM

School District 22 (Vernon) is still investigating changing its catchment boundaries to fully involve the Okanagan Indian Band (OKIB).

Band Chief Byron Louis is requesting the catchment area be amended, as the current boundaries have a portion of the reserve within the boundary of SD22 while the remainder is within the catchment for District 83 (North Okanagan-Shuswap).

“Currently, the northeastern end of IR #1 (Round Lake/Salmon River Road) falls within the jurisdiction of SD 83, and in the past some of these students were bussed to Falkland, separating them from their peers who live at Head of the Lake and further down Westside Road,” Louis said in a letter to SD22 trustees dated June 13, 2022.

“The boundaries of local school districts should first and foremost account for boundaries of local Indian Reserve lands. Having Indian Reserve lands split between school districts only creates confusion for school bus transportation and increases the risk for the loss of local Indigenous children learning their language and practicing their culture between family and other community members living on other areas of these reserve lands.”

Louis asked SD22 to work with the Regional District of North Okanagan and the Ministry of Education, Children and Families to revise the catchment area to bring in the remainder of the IR to within the Vernon school district boundary.

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A staff report to the Board of Education stated the change to the boundary would “fulfill our public responsibility to Indigenous communities.”

On June 15, 2022, the board received the letter from Louis and initiated the consultation process.

However, the report, dated Dec. 14, 2022, stated the consultation process has been moving slowly as the required boundary design process takes time to prepare, adding the proposed change would take the school districts boundary out of alignment with the RDNO, creating complications for election and Trustee Electoral Area administration.

The report stated the superintendent continues to work through the process and find solutions to those challenges, but in the meantime, has recommended the board adopt a policy to ensure all students residing in OKIB have equal opportunity to access an education at a SD22 school.

The board will be presented with the report at the meeting Wednesday, Jan. 25, and will discuss adopting a temporary catchment area amendment to incorporate the entire reserve lands within the boundary as the work to create a permanent policy continues.