McLeod Lake Indian Band weighs in on recent school board drama

A third party has entered the feud between the Prince George District Teacher’s Association (PGDTA) and the School District 57 Board.

The McLeod Lake Indian Band has come out in support of Board Chair Rachael Weber who has been publicly criticized by Daryl Beauregard, the PGDTA President, multiple times.

For the full context, click here and here.

One of Beauregard’s criticisms of the board surrounded a prayer that Weber read at the start of December 13th’s board meeting.

He defined it as a “Christian prayer” when he brought it up at January’s meeting on the 31st.

Beauregard said this prayer “segregated students and staff who may hold other religious views, who may be healing from centuries of oppressive colonialism, or who may just feel othered and no longer belonging in a system that should be open to all young people by law.”

The prayer, in part, said “God the creator, we your people humbly come before you tonight. We thank you for your love, your guidance, your family, and your community. We pray for honesty, humility, courage, and integrity in everything we do this evening… God, please help us in everything that we do.”

Weber responded, informing the gallery it was given to her by the McLeod Lake Indian Band, saying “before you (Beauregard) start commenting on things in letters… please make sure your facts are correct.”

In the December meeting where the prayer was read, Weber did mention that it came from the McLeod Lake Indian Band.

The Chief of the McLeod Lake Indian Band, Harley Chingee, responded to Beauregard in a letter shared with My PG Now.

“I was very disheartened by comments you made to Chair, Rachael Weber… after she read the Elders’ prayer created by the Elders of McLeod Lake Indian Band,” Chingee wrote.

“The McLeod Lake Indian Band took offense to this statement as this was not at all what Mrs. Weber was doing… you took this further and brought this letter to the public board meeting and read it aloud.”

The letter continues, saying “we were appalled with the way you (Beauregard) disrespected the Chair and our Nation,” after he said he found the process undemocratic when he was denied the chance to respond to Weber’s comments about the origin of the prayer.

They also briefly touched on the bigger controversy Beauregard has been speaking out about, surrounding anti-LGBTQ comments made by a member of the public during the December meeting.

He took issue with the lack of response from the board after the speaker said cases of abuse in SD57’s schools are on the rise, and that “the number of students confused about their gender is up.”

Following these statements, Weber told him “it takes great courage to come to the mic and say what you did tonight, you were heard. Thank you for taking time from your life to come tonight to make sure that we listened.”

“We stand behind Mrs. Weber’s comments and believe that she was simply thanking a presenter and that she would never disrespect any group, like the LGBTQ or other groups because she works with people from all backgrounds and sexual orientations,” Chief Chingee wrote.

In closing, Chingee said “We hope that moving forward, you will respect the Nations and learn from the people that work with us. We hope that you will have an open mind to listen and not jump to the media to sensationalize a story that simply is not what you think it is. There was no intent to hurt any political body or group.”

The Band also said that Weber has worked for them for the past four years.

To date, Weber has not responded to Beauregard’s letters publicly, and last week Beauregard said she has not responded privately either.

She has also not responded to any of My PG Now’s interview requests.

At the time of publishing, neither Cheif Chingee or Beauregard have responded to My PG Now’s interview requests.

The next school board meeting is Tuesday, February 28th at 4:00.

Edit – a previous version of this article said Weber did not state where the prayer originated from. That was incorrect, she credited it to the McLeod Lake Indian Band after saying the prayer. You can find that at moment at 2:35 of this video.