Darren Campbell
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 31/98) - The waiting game continues regarding changing the makeup of the Fort Smith District Education Authority.

After community members circulated a petition earlier in the year to change the authority from an elected to an appointed board, Education Minister Charles Dent is still considering the idea.

Dianne Blesse, the former community education development coordinator for the department of education, culture, and employment, has worked on a number of these petitions.

She said Fort Smith isn't unique in petitioning to change the makeup of their DEA.

"There has been a series of petitions coming in. Different communities have different education desires," said Blesse. "Fort Smith is one of the ones nearing the final process."

What Fort Smith is looking for is to change the DEA from an elected board to an appointed nine-member board.

The members would include three appointees each from the municipality, the Fort Smith Metis Nation Local #50, and Salt River First Nation.

For a number of years, aboriginal people in Fort Smith have felt their language and culture was not being represented in the schools. The new model for the DEA was thought by the Metis and Salt River band to be a solution to their concerns.

Right now, Dent has the petition and is preparing to respond to submissions he got from the community on what they think of the idea. After reviewing all that information, Dent will then make a decision on it.

Fort Smith Mayor Peter Martselos said he was against the idea of having an appointed DEA in the past because he felt an elected board would be more accountable to the people.

But he has changed his mind after seeing that the Salt River band and the Metis want the appointed board.

"If the other two groups say it is a good idea than I say it's fine and let's see if it is going to work," said Martselos.

Thebacha MLA Michael Miltenberger said he also has no problem with restructuring the DEA. His main concern was that the community knows what was going on from the beginning.

"I wanted this to be done publicly and there to be a clear community awareness on this," said Miltenberger. "I didn't want people to wake up and find changes to a major institution."

Satisfied that has been done, Miltenberger points out that having appointed board is nothing new in Fort Smith. The Fort Smith health board was also changed from an elected to an appointed board.

He noted the DEA has a history of having a hard time getting enough people to even run for the DEA seats. With that in mind, he said the community will lose nothing by having an appointed DEA.

Salt River First Nation chief Nora Beaver and Fort Smith Metis Local No. 50 president Gord Villebrun could not be reached for comment at press time.