Dene Nation accepts apology for educator's 'inappropriate' comments
Yellowknife Catholic Schools says Facebook posts
by non-aboriginal employee were wrong
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Monday, April 27, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus says he accepts the apology from Yellowknife's Catholic school board in the wake of comments by one of its employees last month calling Tlicho caribou hunters "animals."
Simon Taylor, chair of Yellowknife Catholic Schools' board of trustees, sent letters of apology last week to Erasmus and Tlicho executive officer Laura Duncan.
The letters state the views expressed by David Radcliffe, who worked as the district's aboriginal program activities co-ordinator, "in no way reflect the values and beliefs of Yellowknife Catholic Schools."
"We accept the apology and realize that this is all about education," said Erasmus.
"It's helping understand the issues around caribou and making sure they have the facts before speaking out."
John B. Zoe, senior adviser to the Tlicho government, also accepted the apology.
"I thought that was a pretty good way of dealing with it," Zoe said about the letters.
More people in the North need to become aware of how important caribou are to the Tlicho, he continued.
"A lot of our membership rely on the caribou more than people realize."
The apology comes after Radcliffe made several Facebook posts last month. He left comments below a video showing hunters from Behchoko and Dettah arriving in Lutsel K'e for a caribou hunt.
"These animals should be ashamed of themselves," he wrote about the hunters in one comment.
The posts sparked outrage and prompted calls online for Radcliffe to be fired.
At the time, Radcliffe told News/North he felt badly about the comments that hurt people.
He also claimed to have 100 per cent support from the Catholic school board.
"We have responded to this incident by taking immediate, appropriate action," the letters state.
It does not specify what action was taken and Erasmus said he's not sure what happened to Radcliffe.
Radcliffe's name no longer appears on the school district's online staff page.
The letters were sent to media outlets with a news release from the school district's superintendent Claudia Parker, who stated the board acknowledges the comments were hurtful to the aboriginal community.
"We value our relationship with our aboriginal families and students," she said in the statement.
"We wanted to go on the record with a public apology and an invitation to continuing a conversation about how we can rebuild trust."
