Can't stop progress, I guess. Two conditions ,please. It won't be residential and they can't comeback later complaining that it didn't work and they want money.

Why aboriginal schools?
What's wrong with the public school system.
Shouldn't all Canadians be treated the same?
This is creating racism!

With a race based fishery and justice system, what's next? Don't worry about it. They know what they are doing.

Good point Harbringer, segregation provides an excellent opening to claim discrimination and damages in the future.

are the natives going to pay for it with all their land claim money? I think not!

I want to start an all white, born in England school, do you think that will fly?? What a bunch of bu!!sh!t!!!!!

this goes against everything we have tried to fix for many decades now. We are one country. We need to have one law, one tax, and one education system, end of story.

Here we go again, the government (school board) caving in for a special interest group. Get a life, get an education, get a job, and pay some damn taxes! The education system offered in B.C., and most parts of Canada is excellent. So jump on board, and quit your damn whining! I am sick of it, and I am sure there is many more that feel the same way.

Years in the future it will have been the wrong thing to do. We will be called racists for having an aboriginal schoool and the governments will have to pay damages again. Keep it in the public school system.

This is nonsense and will create more dependencies as these children don't learn to interact in a none race based society as they fear the unknown outside of their own self created bubble that insulates them from positive role models and alternate future options.

"The aim is to develop an Aboriginal Choice School kindergarten to grade 7 which would offer public education within a First Nations context."

An interesting concept. Sort of like a Montessori school. A public education within a Montessori comtext.

It does not say it is for any race or will exclude any races. If a white born in England would like to go to it, it sounds like he or she can. Remember Grey Owl. The English would probably love it!! The Germans brought up on stories of Karl May and Winetou and Shatterhand would as well.

I guess the east indian school is next?
Or will it be the chinese? I agree with eagle's comment, except would add that we are PERPETUATING the dependencies that the native indian industry has created. The older I get, the more I can see the folly of the constant social tinkering we fund with our tax dollars. Has anyone else noticed this, or is it just me?
I blame lawyers, all levels of government including school boards, and the media. The media tends to seize an issue and run with it, slanting the reporting of the facts in a certain direction, and giving an issue more, or less, coverage, depending on the political tendencies of the reporters or their masters.
An aboriginal curriculum is not going to create a lot more grade 12 graduates, who will go on to become useful productive tax paying citizens. It will only foster the belief within the students' minds that the indian is somehow special, and seperate from the rest of society, and therefore deserving of special treatment.
metalman.

My understanding is a little different. My understanding is that those of us who have a European background were educated to study the exploration of the North and South American continents from a European vantage point.
Our education was from the vantage point of the European explorers etc. Trouble with that is our native children were taught from the same European vantage point.
What about their vantage point? Quite different I would say.
I would like us to be more respectful of our native children.

Lamb is right to point out that all our schools have a cultural context, or at least they had. However, i think the point others are making is that we have a Canadian culture now and we ought to teach our kids from that cultural viewpoint.
As a father of several grade schoolers i can tell you that the current curriculum contains far more aboriginal material than anything else, including european canadian history. So much so that i have to remind my kids that they actually have a recent european heritage as well. If my kids can learn so much about native culture, and incorporate this into their understanding of Canada, then Native kids can do the same for european culture.
All our kids have to learn the same stuff and be treated the same if they are to have an equal chance at success in our society. This isnt about respect, it is about coddling native children and trying to fix a problem without addressing it. If you want children to have a 100 percent success rate in school then just pass everyone no matter what. It wont help the kids but the stats will look great in the short term. The same goes for teaching kids differently based on their race. It says:'you are different from the rest of humanity, you deserve special treatment'. Since when has that been a formula for success?

A choice school, any choice school, is not segregated by race. A choice school can be a fine arts choice school or montessori or other. Yes, metalman, there could be an "east indian" choice school I suppose, if there was interest and advocacy for one. Only you wouldn't segregate it by race.Everyone would be welcome. In the '70's, "east indian" people, who I will refer to as Indo Canadian people, were treated terribly. Many came to the town I lived to work at the mill in a neighbouring town. There were cruel jokes about how they smelled, as if they were not clean. They were not dirty but they were taunted and treated like dirt. An Indo choice school may have taken down some of that racism, I don't know. Very few would have attended anyways because they were so racist. Now, in the year 2009, many of my son's friends are indo. Nobody bugs him about it because SOME progress has been made, although racism is alive and well.

Indian Residential Schools and an Aboriginal Choice School are not even close to the same. Indian Residential Schools were jails really, where Aboriginal children were taken as young as 4. Many of my family members went there. Their language, culture and customs were beaten out of them. They received an inferior education and lost their parenting skills because they were raised by people, hostile to what they believed and to who they were.

An Aboriginal Choice School is a place any student between the grades of K - 7 can attend. I look forward to seeing children and parents who are not Aboriginal, learn about Aboriginal Culture, along with the rest of the BC Ministry of Ed curriculum. Last night there was a woman speaking at a meeting in order to protest the Aboriginal Choice School. She thinks she attended a Potlach, when really it was a public consultation meeting. The two are worlds apart and there was no similarity between the public info mtg and a potlach. Some education would help there for sure.

Res schools were not done in consultation with Aboriginal people. The choice school is being done properly and many Aboriginal Professionals are involved.

Some of these comments on here are made by people who have not done their homework. If you really are interested in developing an informed opinion, there are people at the school board office you can seek information from. There are also some really good courses at UNBC and CNC you might want to take.

I think that if there is a chance to improve the graduation rate of First Nations that we should take it. Many posters in other articles talk about First Nations as being lazy, etc. If this process works (and we should give it a chance to work before we criticize it) it may engage many First Nations in the importance of education, which may reduce poverty and hence less homelessness.

Shouldnt we at least give this a chance to work before we condemn it.

And, BTW, there are Muslim schools, Sikh schools, Catholic schools, etc etc here in BC, so what is the harm in a First Nations choice school, especially when anyone can attend it.

Muslims, Sikhs, Catholics and other people don't get $10 BILLION dollars handed to them every year. They don't live in enclaves 1500 miles from nowhere. Sikhs, Muslims, Catholic people buy a house down the street, get a job, pay taxes and try to fit in. AND they still get to keep their traditions, beliefs AND culture. Go figure.

Harbinger, you are very ignorant. the govt. may give $10 Billion a year, but the majority of it goes to INAC which is a case study in bureaucracy and has done a great job of keeping many white folks employed over the years. If I want some of that money, I'm supposed to beg for it and be the good little indian and be thankful.

I say, BS, I'll make it on my own as I have. I own my home beside some typical white folk who are dating and probably related somehow, listen to JOhn Cougar Mellencamp records, and every so often have to sign themselves out of the casino. Hmmm, is that an over-generalization about white folks? YOU damn right it is. Be cautious when you paint one group with the same brush.

I want my kids to attend this school. I know white folks who want their kids to attend this school, because maybe, just maybe, they like Aboriginal people, because instead of whining and living in ignorance, they got off their asses, took themselves out of their comfort zone and actually educated themselves about others.

OH wait, I know you have a friend who is Aboriginal right?

Thanks for the condescension, Raven. I will carefully consider your suggestion to attend those aboriginal sensitivity courses at CNC or UNBC. Believe it or not, I sympathize with you. You are right, the Indians of this country were poorly treated, and that is a tragedy. All that mistreatment is in the past, you and yours must move on now, or you will never be healed. Unfortunatly, I sincerely doubt that learning more about the 21st century viewpoint on Canadian born Indians will cause me to agree with your misguided comments. I personally harbour no animosity toward Indians, or any other race, nor have I ever stated that Indians are lesser people in any way. I believe that I speak for many when I say that it is the Indian industry, the lawyers, the media, and especially the federal government, that I have a problem with.
May I suggest that you try to understand some of the comments which you do not agree with? You know, as a child growing up in the sixties and seventies in Northern B.C. I went to school with, and socialized with, all different races. There were many Indians, east Indians, Chinese, plus of course a whole lot of other people. I do not recall a lot of predjudice, the people of the town you speak of must have been a very closed and closely related society. The Indian children I grew up with, and their siblings and parents sure seemed normal to me, is it possible they were just masquerading?
metalman.

I have an acquaintance who is aboriginal. Funny thing you should say. He once told me white people have the mafia and the Indians have band chiefs and councils. I am not making this up.

Thanks Raven

As a former student of Carney Hill, I could see this comming for a long time, when I went there I was a minority (read: White kid). There was already alot of FN culture etc taught at the school ...But by White teachers so who the hell knows how authentic it was ...either way it was fun. Now that said ... are they gonna turn the VLA into an Official reserve and force all non FN poeople out of that school??.... No...its a choice school...the SD will focus on FN studies in that school...

Personally I dont see it as bad thing ... Majority of students at Carney Hill are of FN decent anyway some busing might be required for FN kids out of the CH catchment area that want to attend this school ... Its not a manditory program
and being a choice school I could send my kid if I wanted to.

Its not unlike Central Fort "Traditional" school