Embattled Manitoba school board gets four new trustees

Newly elected Mountain View School Division trustees are hoping they can help end months of turmoil surrounding the school board.

Scott Linksleg said the first step for him was getting elected.

“Hopefully we can get together, work, see what happens, and, yeah, start building a better board for kids.” – said Lynxfoot.

Linksleg was one of four trustee candidates who won Wednesday’s special election.

The others were Floyd Martens, Conrad Nabess and Jarry Thompson.

Nabess, Linksleg and Thompson identify as Indigenous.

The seats became vacant after a series of events that began in the spring.

In April, Trustee Paul Coffey gave a presentation to the board questioning the impact of boarding schools.

“They were good, like those good things that are needed for reading, writing and arithmetic and enforcing rules in schools and school attendance,” Coffey said in April.

The comments prompted immediate backlash from Indigenous leaders and the superintendent, who was later fired by the board. Three trustees resigned and an unrelated vacancy occurred.

The province ordered a management review and established an oversight committee to address the fallout.

Thompson, the daughter of a residential school survivor, said she ran away in part because of Coffey’s comments.

“It scared me, I thought, ‘What if my daughter had to go through what I had to go through with racism,’” Thompson said.

Thompson and Linksleg say they have tried to make changes to the board and promise to work with existing members while educating them.

“I don’t want to come here and create conflict,” Thompson said. “I want to go out there and create unity. I want to hopefully bring a perspective that maybe they don’t have.”

“Imagine if your children were there and there was no one to represent them?” – said Lynxfoot. “How would you feel? That’s how I understand it. I get very emotional.”

Mountain View Teachers Association President Chance Henderson said he is excited about the new trustees.

“I mean, we have unprecedented diversity on our board right now,” Henderson said.

Henderson is optimistic about the board’s future.

“With the resignations of board members and all this uncertainty, it’s certainly been difficult for people.”

CTV News reached out to Paul Coffey and the board chairman but did not receive a response.