Newly elected trustees say it's time for change at embattled Manitoba school board

Newly elected trustees to an embattled western Manitoba school board say they hope their victory will lead to more voices being heard.

Four people have won seats on the board of the Mountain View School Division in a byelection Wednesday that was prompted after three long-serving trustees resigned this past summer, following the ousting of the division's superintendent.

The resignations were one of of a series of controversial episodes since trustee Paul Coffey gave a presentation in April in which he said residential schools began as a good thing.

Three of the new trustees elected on Wednesday identify as Indigenous: Scott Lynxleg, Conrad Nabess and Jarri Thompson.

The results are "a reflection for the Indigenous population that we're not going anywhere," said Thompson, who was elected in Ward 4 Dauphin.

"We're getting stronger and stronger," she said. "Rather than waste my time fighting against racism, I'm going to be empowering the Indigenous students.… We did it. You can do it."

Kirk Dawson, the school division's senior elections official, said interest in the lead-up to the vote was quite high, with turnout pushing about 10 per cent — doubling what's normally seen in school division byelections.

A total of nine people ran in the byelection, and none of the wards went uncontested. That's compared to the 2022 contest, when seven people were acclaimed.

'A full board'

Floyd Martens — one of the trustees who had resigned this summer — regained his seat in Ward 1 Roblin. Nabess was also elected in that ward.

Lynxleg, who is from Tootinaowaziibeeng First Nation, won the open trustee spot in Ward 2 Grandview–Gilbert Plains–Ethelbert.

The newly elected trustee, who has two granddaughters in the school division, said it's "time for change."

"First thing is to have everybody heard. All the voices: Parents, the staff, students, and the board members," Lynxleg said.

"We'll have a full board.… I'd like to hear everybody's thoughts and stuff like that going forward, and to work together. But recently the stuff that's been going on … that has to be addressed."

In September, the four remaining Mountain View trustees voted to ban all flags except for provincial, federal and school flags at the division, despite not having enough members to make quorum.

The trustees have also clashed with the provincial government after it appointed an oversight panel in the aftermath of the resignations, and over a governance review ordered following Coffey's comments.

"What's happening right now is going against our policies, it's going against our bylaws," Thompson said. "We can't simply say that we have no use for authority, which has been said a couple of times in those meetings."

Thompson said she will advocate for more transparency, and for the board to "come out of camera."

"They're passing motions, but people don't understand why they're passing motions," she said. "What they say goes, and that's not OK. People need to know the reasons why these motions are being passed."

She said she would like to see Tootinaowaziibeeng First Nation to become its own ward in the school division, ahead of the division's next election in two years, so the community's perspective is heard.

"We don't have a lot of time. We have to get on that," she said.