Announcements

Dear First Nations Schools,

On October 25th FNESC and FNSA shared draft K-12 Sector Guidelines for Vaccination Policies developed by a Ministry of Education advisory committee to support boards of education and non-First Nation independent school authorities as they consider options for the possible implementation of vaccine mandates for their staff.

The Ministry of Education has now issued the finalized version of the guidelines, which we are providing for your reference.

As mentioned in our previous update, school boards and non-First Nation independent school authorities are not required to implement vaccine mandates for their employees. Similarly, First Nations are under no obligation to develop and implement vaccination policies for First Nations schools. As stated in the guidelines, the Ministry of Education fully respects the authority of individual First Nations to make decisions about the operation of First Nations schools in the best interests of their students, schools, and communities.

FNESC and FNSA are sharing this resource as it may be informative for any First Nation considering the implementation of vaccination policies for school staff. First Nations are encouraged to seek legal advice and to ensure that any such policies are developed under the direction of local First Nations leadership.

Find all of organizational updates and resources on our COVID-19 information page.