August 6, 2025
AMENDMENTS TO BC’S SCHOOL ACT TOOK EFFECT IN NOVEMBER 2023 AND APRIL 2024, introducing three new sections that “begin to address the systemic barriers faced by First Nation students across BC, as well as to support all Indigenous learners, as appropriate, within the province.
“These important steps along the path of reconciliation will respect First Nations authority and decision-making over the education of their children and recognize local First Nations in British Columbia as hosts within their traditional territories,” reads the Introduction to School Act Amendments, published by the First Nations Education Steering Committee.
The new sections include (follow the links for explanations of each):
- First Nations School of Choice (s. 74.2)
- Model Local Education Agreement (s. 86.1)
- Indigenous Education Councils (Part 6: Division 2.01)”
Here is the Province’s Distinctions-Based Approach Primer (December 2023) intended to “acknowledges the specific rights, interests, priorities and concerns of each [First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Peoples], while respecting and acknowledging these distinct Peoples with unique cultures, histories, rights, laws, and governments” (from BC’s web page on “Distinctions-based Approach”).
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We acknowledge that the land on which we work is the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.