Members of the Rainbow District School Board of trustees and director of education Norm Blaseg met with members of the M'Chigeeng First Nation community on Sept. 24, as the two look to work together in the aftermath of a brawl that erupted at Manitoulin Secondary School on Sept. 14.
Blaseg was joined by board chair Doreen Dewar, trustee Grace Fox, and superintendent of schools Kathy Wachnuk for sit-down with Manitoulin Secondary principal Jamie Mohamed, M'Chigeeng band manager Sam Manitowabi, principal of Indigenous education Kathy Dokis, and director of education at M'Chigeeng First Nation Robert Beaudin, who is also the principal of Lakeview Public School on M'Chigeeng First Nation.
"We're speaking to the challenges associated with the MSS incident. It was a very productive meeting, we've been working actively with principal Mohamed and of course with the partners of MSS to move forward and rebuild the positive spirit that we know exists at MSS," said Blaseg.
While the board is working to mend fences that may have been damaged in the wake of what has been described as a "racially charged" melee involving Indigenous students, non-Indigenous students, staff and parents, one key figure has been forced to watch from the sidelines as the board, the school and the community look to ensure a healthy and amicable conclusion to the incident.
Larry Killens is the trustee for the Manitoulin area, and he has been banned by his fellow trustees from attending all Rainbow Board meetings until Nov. 30.
Killens, a former OPP officer, says that he's felt helpless with regard to the Manitoulin Secondary School incident and that the community doesn't feel they're being heard.
"Coming from a police career, you always like to be prepared to help people, be it your first aid kit or your knowledge of whatever it may be," said Killens.
"In this case it's not having the tools at hand, it's the knowledge to bring comfort to the parents (to tell them) I know what's going, there's no need to worry ... I had none of that, I didn't have the tools to comfort the parents or inform them."
Killens called the Rainbow Board after he received some angry phone calls on Sept. 14, but was never given a response from the board.
"I had no idea what was going on until my phone started ringing with calls from some parents who were right angry," said Killens. "They were calling and asking 'You're our trustee, why don't you have this information?' Even a simple question like whether or not the school was still open, I couldn't help them. I had to call the parents of some kids and ask if they were going to school the next day."
The Rainbow Board organized Monday's meeting, and Blaseg and company travelled to Manitoulin not to speak about the incident itself, but the particulars that may have led to it and how to move forward in the aftermath.
"We chose to focus on the opportunities more than anything else because you can't change the past," said Blaseg. "The opportunities we're looking at are what types of supports our kids need, both from the perspective of a First Nations lens, and from the student population at MSS. There was a lot of dialogue about that, but there was also lots of dialogue about it's not just about the students; it's more holistic than that, and it has to deal with the social, emotional and other challenges associated with a child in their teenage years."
Blaseg explained that the board, principals and teachers all have a unique challenge when it comes to social media.
"It is the bane of education in some instances," Blaseg said. "It goes unchecked and there's no filter and it sends very hurtful messages sometimes and people react. Our challenge is how do we deal with that.
"When we look at our role from an educational perspective, what is our role in trying to help facilitate an understanding of how hurtful things can be and how people react to it. How can we provide some interventions or programming or strategies to ensure that this won't happen again."
From where Killens sits however, he feels he should be involved in the process of finding a resolution and could be a valuable resource to both the board and the community that he serves.
"(M'Chigeeng Chief) Linda Debassige is in regular contact with me. She called me up and said, 'Larry, this man (Blaseg) does not understand our community, he calls me up and expects me to drop everything ... and that's not the way we work here.' She's addressed several situations with me that are happening and she realizes it wasn't all First Nations (people) that were charged, but she says they need to talk with someone who knows them and knows their structure," said Killens.
"They're not happy and they feel they're not being listened to and that promises are not being kept, that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that the board signed up to and made a lot of promises are not even close to being obeyed."
Debassige dismissed the Rainbow Board's press release sent out on Sept. 21, calling the board's reaffirmation of their commitment to the TRC a "tactic" and saying it is "a futile attempt [that] reconfirms their denial of the systemic racism and discrimination that continues to exist."
There have been 11 charges laid in relation to the brawl, nine of the people charged are youths and two are adults. Blaseg says that the board conducts its own investigation and levies its own disciplinary measures, separate from that of the police when it comes to situations like this.
"Naturally there are consequences. There are all kinds that can be associated with these types of incidents. It's incumbent upon us to make sure that we do our investigation and make sure we get the information that's required to make an informed decision," said Blaseg.
"Whether it's regarding staff or students. It could be suspension, it may not be, it all depends on severity. If there are accusations with regards to staff that's a little different, we have to follow some protocols and we did do that in this case, there was an allegation so we look at the evidence and we have to determine an outcome."
