Editor:
The decision to move Kerry Mahlman from Aboriginal Education principal to principal of Madeira Park maintains and reinforces colonial attitudes and actions within our public education system. This decision has upset the shíshálh Nation and the growing Sunshine Coast community who are dedicated to relationship building between the shíshálh Nation and non-Aboriginals.
School District No. 46 chair Silas White said a meeting between SD46 and the shíshálh Nation could not be held due to scheduling. White recognized that this is due to a dysfunctional relationship between SD46 and the shíshálh Nation. However, this relationship will only further be damaged with top-down decision making. SD46 must withhold decisions regarding the future of Aboriginal Education until they consulted with the shíshálh Nation. Attention to process regarding such sensitive topics is necessary to redefine Aboriginal - non-Aboriginal relations.
In the May 11, Coast Reporter superintendant Patrick Bocking stated that SD46 is increasing the net number of staff. The success of the Aboriginal Education program has not been built on quantity of staff, it has been built on years of relationship building based on earned trust and understanding. In our opinion there is no better person on the Sunshine Coast to fulfill the important role of principal for the program than Kerry Mahlman. Her dedication to relationship building is demonstrated by the success of the Aboriginal Education program that she has nurtured for years.
This program is essential for not only supporting Aboriginal youth in a foreign educational system, but also raising a generation of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth who are capable of critically thinking in order to address historic and current colonial atrocities. The leaders of our education system have demonstrated that instead of being willing to accommodate Aboriginal Educational needs, the education system is acting on its own terms to the detriment of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth.
Wesley Jeffries and Rosalind Patrick
Sechelt
