FNESC co-developed amendments to the BC School Act to improve First Nation student learning outcomes and attendance through processes that respect the inherent authority of First Nations. The 2023 amendments address Local Education Agreements, Indigenous Education Councils, and First Nations Schools of Choice.

The First Nation Schools of Choice provisions in the School Act and related provincial policy establish a process for First Nations to decide which provincial public school(s) their student(s) who live on reserve, or self-governing or Treaty Lands, will attend.

The Model Local Education Agreement provisions in the School Act provides the opportunity for First Nations and Treaty First Nation to apply the Model Local Education Agreement (“Model LEA”) where there is no existing Local Education Agreement. The Model LEA sets a minimum standard for LEAs between boards and First Nations in BC, beyond the mere purchase of education programs and services for First Nation students living on-reserve or Treaty/self-government lands. Learn more about LEAs.

The School Act now require Indigenous Education Councils (IECs) in all 60 school districts and effectively require a reset of how IECs are established and operated. IECs must be established and operated to serve specific purposes relating to supporting Indigenous student outcomes and respecting the distinct languages, cultures, customs, traditions, practices and histories of the First Nation(s) in whose territory(ies) the board operates. Learn more about IECs.

The School Act Amendments resource is a compilation of key sections of the School Amendment Act (2023), and supporting ministerial orders, ministerial regulation and provincial policy that address a number of commitments made by the Ministry of Education and Child Care in the BC Tripartite Education Agreement and in the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan.

The School Amendment Act, as well as recent and upcoming supporting ministerial orders, regulations and provincial policy, are informed by the Province’s position set in the Distinctions-Based Approach Primer and any supplementary documents that will follow.

The Province is required to take a distinctions-based approach in all of its relations with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit. This requirement has a legal foundation in the Constitution Act, 1982; the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN Declaration); the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (Declaration Act); treaties; as well as the respective and distinct laws, legal systems, and systems of governance of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit.