Yellowknife (Sep 13/06) - The territorial government has extended the nomination deadline for people interested in running for Yellowknife Catholic Schools.

People now have until 3 p.m. Sept. 18 to submit papers to run for trustee.

Catholics only for school board? There's still time to register your comment in Yellowknifer's telephone poll. We're asking for your opinion on a decision by the board of Yellowknife Catholics Schools to require anyone who wants to run for its board of trustees to be Catholic. Should only Catholics be allowed to run for the board of Yellowknife Catholic Schools? To register your vote and leave a comment on Yellowknifer's 24-hour automated voice-mail poll, call 920-4298 before 10 a.m. Sept. 14. Results of the poll and your comments will be printed in Yellowknifer on Sept. 15. YCS board nominations: Here are seven trustee seats up for election on Oct. 16. Nomination deadline has been extended to 3 p.m. Sept. 18. By Tuesday afternoon, the following incumbents had submitted their names for election to the Catholic school board: Shannon Gullberg Amy Hacala Jane Haley Brian Nagel Larry Purcka Debora Simpson Raymond St. Arnaud Mary Vane

According to Chief Electoral Officer Gail Cyr, the extension was needed to clear up confusion over whether only people of Catholic faith are eligible to run for the board.

"Information contained in materials written by the Yellowknife Catholic School Board for the upcoming election of school trustees is incorrect," said a statement from Cyr, on the city website.

"Specifically there is no requirement that eligible candidates for the Yellowknife Public Denominational District Education Authority (YCS) must be of the Catholic faith. This is not a requirement in either the (NWT) Education Act or the Local Authorities Election Act."

"Of course we're in a situation where we're agreeing to disagree in all of this," said YCS Superintendent Kern Von Hagen.

"They are saying that our eligibility criterion (to be a Catholic) is incorrect (and) our board is taking the position that constitutionally it is correct."

Board chair Shannon Gullberg, who found out about the extension at 3 p.m. Monday, said while she disagrees with electoral officer, she's not surprised.

"It's not a matter of preference, it's a legal opinion of eligibility to sit on that board."

Gullberg previously told Yellowknifer that a legal opinion last year which concluded the board had a constitutional right to insist trustees be Catholic in order to serve.

One incumbent trustee, Amy Hacala - a non-Catholic - is opposed to the board's Catholics-only policy, and is running for re-election Oct. 16.

Education Minister Charles Dent said Friday that while the issue has never come up before, about 40 per cent of students attending publicly-funded YCS schools are non-Catholic, and their parents want representation.

"In the last day I've heard from both sides of this that, ‘hey I may not be Catholic but 100 per cent of taxes go to the Catholic school system because that's where my kids go," said Dent.

Still, he's open to considering changes to election laws in the future.

"I think we need to have some discourse on it, and I'm quite ready to have that. I've got to listen to my constituents."

- with files from Mike W. Bryant