Jarri-Ann Thompson, Mountain View school board trustee. Photo: Facebook
A First Nations member of Mountain View School Division’s board of trustees is speaking out against the plan to have students sing God Save the King each school day.
Jarri-Ann Thompson is a member of Minegoziibe Anishinabe or Pine Creek First Nation north of Dauphin and was recently elected to the board. She says she hadn’t heard anything about the plan until she started getting text messages Wednesday night about a screenshot being shared showing a message sent to principals advising them of the change. At first, Thompson says she was skeptical.
“But then, the volume of concern from people in the community got so high, so I went through our board meeting minutes, I went through our committee of the whole meeting minutes, I went through our in-camera meeting minutes—nothing. So, I emailed the board.”
Thompson says she questioned board chair Jason Gryba how the decision came about, without it going through the board for a vote.
“He was very (clear) about the fact that it came from him and he did not need to ask or discuss with the board,” Thompson told APTN News.
“I told him that it had to be discussed at the board level and he doubled down and said it doesn’t.”
In a statement emailed to APTN Thursday, Gryba said the school division had to “ensure compliance” with the Schools Patriotic Observances section of the Manitoba Education Administration Act, in place since 1988.
“Good governance is about adhering to laws and regulations that are in place, regardless of how often they may have been previously observed. While some legislation may become less prominent over time, it remains our responsibility to uphold it as long as it is valid,” Gryba’s statement says.
The move has left some people scratching their heads. Former teacher Cam Bennet says singing God Save the King does nothing to advance reconciliation efforts with Indigenous people.
“Indigenous students need to sing “God Save the King” when it was the monarchy and the church that took the children from their families and put them in residential schools,” Bennet said in a Facebook post.
Thompson says many people she’s heard from in Dauphin feel blindsided by the news.
“They didn’t know what to think of it. What should we tell the students, what should I tell my kids? Kids are learning about Indigenous education and the true history of Canada in schools, and now teachers are going to have to go to these kids and ask them to stand and pledge allegiance to (the) king.”
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew answered a question on the issue at a news conference on Thursday.
“(A review of the policy) is something that is under consideration by our government,” Kinew said.
No timeline was given for such a review.
APTN reached out for an interview with the interim education minister Tracy Schmidt. She is managing the K-12 and early childhood education portfolio in addition to her role as minister of environment and climate change. Education Minister, Nelo Altomare died last week. He’d been on leave since October.
No information about the review was received before this story was published. When information is available, it will be added.
