School District No. 46 (SD46) is trying to ensure the Sechelt Indian Government District (SIGD) is fairly represented in trustee electoral areas by the 2018 election.
About a year ago, the school board was alerted to an issue with the provincial electoral order, which failed to identify certain SIGD lands in the “metes and boundaries” description.
The ministry identified six areas as missing from the SIGD lands description (Sechelt, Tsawcome, Swaycalse, Klaalth, Shannon Creek and Oalthkyim) and tasked trustees with figuring out how best to include them in electoral areas moving forward.
School board trustees have been discussing the issue for several months and have received input from various governments. Now they’re ready to bring two suggested options to the public for their input through a series of public hearings, one of which took place Thursday, Feb. 23 at Elphinstone Secondary School.
The two options keep the same number of trustees at the board table, but redistributes them between either three or four new electoral areas.
Option one suggests a single trustee for Rural Area 1, which includes Pender Harbour, Halfmoon Bay, and the SIGD’s Halfmoon Bay and Pender Harbour lands; two trustees for Sechelt and the rest of the SIGD lands; one trustee for Gibsons; and three trustees for Rural Area 2, which includes Roberts Creek, Elphinstone and West Howe Sound.
Option two would create three new trustee electoral areas. Rural Area 1 would stay the same as in option one; however, three trustees would serve the Sechelt/SIGD area and three trustees would also serve in Rural Area 2, which would include Gibsons, Roberts Creek, Elphinstone and West Howe Sound.
Both options put a cap on the population-to-trustee ratio at about 5,400 to one, which was important, according to board chair Betty Baxter.
She said the issue of voter parity was the “principal factor for consideration” during the electoral review process.
That issue of voter parity quashed any idea of having a trustee dedicated solely to the SIGD, as it would cause a “significant imbalance,” she said.
Find out more and have your say at one of the two remaining public hearings on Tuesday, March 7 from 6 to 7 p.m. at Pender Harbour Secondary and on Wednesday, March 29 from 6 to 7 p.m. at Chatelech Secondary School.
Feedback can also be emailed to [email protected]
Once feedback is compiled and trustees make a decision, their recommendation will go to the Minister of Education, who has the final say regarding trustee electoral areas.
If approved, it’s expected that the new electoral areas will be enacted before the 2018 municipal elections.
