A teacher from 100 Mile House is running for the presidency of the British Columbia Teachers' Federation (BCTF) in the executive elections at its annual general meeting March 17-20.
Chris Drouillard teaches at Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School, and says he's also a Cariboo-Chilcotin Teachers' Federation (CCTA) delegate to the BCTF. He previously served four years as CCTA executive committee bargaining chair.
"The reason why I am running for the presidency is to share a message to help support the dignity of the First Nations of British Columbia."
Drouillard says he proposes to ask Prime Minister Stephen Harper to give the $3.1 billion he has earmarked for federal prison reform to the B.C. First Nations.
"The idea is they would use that money to match the Ministry of Education funding district by district ... to be equal partners in the education of the youth in our province."
The First Nations Education Council funds could then administer the funds to match exactly the funding the ministry extends to B.C. public schools, he adds.
"The reason is that First Nation students are the largest population affected by the cuts through the [B.C.] Liberal government.
"Ages 14 to 26, the largest [ethnic population] in that age group are First Nation across this country."
When you look at the Statistics Canada demographics for all ethnic groups, Drouillard says, almost one-quarter of all youths are aboriginal.
He noted that yesterday (March 13) a website became available with more information on all his platform components at www.educationrelationships4dignity.ca.