Elders to help shape education policy

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The Regina Public School Division will soon create an Elders advisory council to advise and assist elected trustees.

The council, which is expected to be up and running by the end of December, will have two roles within the school system. The Elders will assist teachers and principals with in-class instruction of students, and will also work with the board to develop a division policy on Aboriginal education.

"As a school division, we have yet to develop a policy on Aboriginal issues," said the school division's assistant superintendent of administrative services, Dean Hutchinson.

"When I came on with the school division two years ago, it was decided to bring some folks together from several different organizations to talk about that," he said. Among the organizations taking part in those talks were the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, the Gabriel Dumont Institute and the University of Regina.

"In the end, the recommendation from these individuals ... was that we needed a relationship to be built on trust between the trustees and the Elders."

At the time, the school division was trying to formalize a policy on Aboriginal education. After the informal talks the division decided that it wasn't their job to develop such a policy-it was a job for the Aboriginal community, Hutchinson said.