Annual General Meeting Update
At the April 2017 FNSA Annual General Meeting at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Vancouver, BC, FNSA schools elected their representatives to the FNSA Board.
FNSA Directors meet regularly throughout the year and have an important leadership role supporting the positive growth for First Nations schools in BC. Each Director represents a specific region of the province and FNSA Members are welcome to contact their Regional Representative with questions and feedback.
FNSA Board of Directors, 2017 / 2018
Executive
Colleen Austin, FNSA President, ‘Na Aksa Gyilak’yoo School, Tsimshian/Haida/Haisla/Nisga’a Region P: 250 615-2844 email
Brian Matthew, FNSA Vice-President, Neqweyqwelsten School, Secwepemc/St’at’imc/Nlaka’pamux Region P: 250 672-9995 email
Janice Antoine, FNSA Secretary, Coldwater Band School, Secwepemc/St’at’imc/Nlaka’pamux Region P: 250 378-9261 email
Len Merriman, FNSA Treasurer, Eugene Joseph School, Tsihlqot’in/ Carrier/Sekani Region P: 250 648-3231 email
Directors
Andreas Rohrbach, Aatse Davie School, Kaska/Dene/Tahltan/Tagish/Inland Tlingit Region P: 250 471-2002 email
Bernice Touchie, Ittatsoo Learning Centre, Nuu-chah-nulth/Coast Salish Region P: 250 726-7342 email
Francine Johnny, Yu Thuy Thut, Nuu-chah-nuulth/Coast Salish Region P: 250 746-7170 email
Kirsten Barnes, First Nations High School, Gitskan/Wet’suwet’en Region email
Michael Kanhai, Tl’isalagi’lakw Band School, Kwakwaka’wakw/Heiltsuk/Nuxalk/Oweekeno Region P: 250 974-5591 email
Steve Bentley, Sn-c’c a-mala?-tn, Kootenay/Okanagan Region P: 250 260-3616 email
Welcoming Our New FNSA President
In April 2017, the membership also extended warm thank you to their outgoing FNSA President Pamela Lee Lewis from We Wai Kai Nation, and welcomed in a new president, Biiłts’ik Colleen Austin.
Colleen has been an adult educator since 2005 and the Principal and a Sm’algyax language teacher at ‘Na Aksa Gyilak’yoo School in Kitsumkalum, BC, since 2014. Although her ancestral territory is St’at’imc (Lillooet Nation), Colleen was adopted by the Tsimshian Nation as a member of Waaps Niishaywaas Gitselasu and was bestowed the name Biiłts’ik, a house symbol meaning red sunset – “tomorrow will be a nice day.”
See the FNSA Fact Sheet 2017