Ashley St. Pierre’s election to chair remains historic, but not as historic as once thought.
On May 15, the Near North District School Board elected Ashley St. Pierre to helm the ship as board chair. Previously, she served as the Indigenous Trustee and as Vice Chair. Once Erika Lougheed vacated the chair’s seat on April 10, the trustees spoke, and St. Pierre was elected.
See: School board shocker! Erika Lougheed resigns from NNDSB
The Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA) “believed she was the first Indigenous Chair,” in Ontario, the school board noted in a recent release, “and Ashley said she thought she was the first Anishinaabe-kwe Chair.”
The Ojibwe People’s Dictionary defines Anishinaabe-kwe as “an Ojibwe woman.”
See: Historic moment as Indigenous woman elected school board chair first time ever in Ontario
“We have since learned that she is not the first,” Indigenous Chair in the province, the board’s release noted. Indigenous people have held the chair position for the Nipissing-Parry Sound Catholic District School Board – which is not a member of OPSBA, the board clarified – and the chair of the Hastings Prince Edward board was also an Indigenous woman – although not the board’s Indigenous Trustee.
Although she is not the first Indigenous school board chair in the province, St. Pierre “is definitely the first Indigenous Chair for NNDSB,” the board clarified, “and is in limited company in the province.”
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
