Secretary General

Bella Mianscum, Secretary General

Elections for 2016

We started our year with the election of the Cree School Board Chairperson, which was held on July 21, 2016. It is my great pleasure to report that Kathleen J. Wootton continues as the Cree School Board Chairperson for a three-year term (2015-2018). We also had School Commissioner elections for the communities of Wemindji, Waskaganish and Whapmagoostui, and the following new members were elected for a three-year term:

• In Wemindji, Commissioner Clarence Tomatuk
• In Waskaganish, Commissioner Anthony Moses
• In Whapmagoostui, Commissioner Rachel Kawapit

We thank the outgoing Commissioners, Erica Linklater, Gordon Blueboy and Roger Sandy for their dedication and contribution in governing the Cree School Board and we wish them all the best in their endeavours.

For 2015-2016, the Council of Commissioners had its elections for the Vice-Chairperson, 3rd Executive Member, Audit Committee, and Governance Development Committee and the results are as follows:

• Vice-Chairperson: Mabel Bearskin
• 3rd Executive Committee Member: Teddy Wapachee
• Audit Committee: Emily G. Mianscum, Anthony Moses and Teddy Wapachee
• Governance Development Committee: Clifford Loon, Daisy Shecapio and Mabel Bearskin

For the School Committee elections, the communities of Wemindji, Mistissini, Nemaska and Waskaganish had their elections for a three-year term 2015-2018. We welcome the newly elected and those re-elected members in partnering with us to serve our students in their respective communities.

2015-2016 Meetings

For the 2015-2016 school year, there were 44 meetings for which the Secretary General took appropriate measures to prepare and to record:

• Council of Commissioners – 8 meetings (5 regular and 3 special)
• Executive Committee – 23 meetings (22 regular and 1 special)
• Audit Committee – 2 meetings
• Governance Development Committee – 4 meetings
• Management Group – 7 meetings

Furthermore, we prepared and held orientations for the newly elected Commissioners in September 2015 and again in January 2016. We also held an orientation for the School Committees in February 2016.

Special Projects

Our three main projects this year were to update the General By-Law, continue the CSB Policies Review, and continue the Electronic Archives project. Our priority was to update the General By-Law No. 1, which was completed and approved by Council in January 2016. As for the CSB Policies Review, we had 48 policies adopted by the Executive Committee and one policy by the Council of Commissioners. At this stage, we’re pleased to say that all policies have been tabled for review to the Working Group, but we still anxiously wait for 30 policies to be finalized. The Electronic Archives project is still ongoing. I am happy to report though, that all the student files that we received since the Board’s existence are now electronically archived, and we are tackling the suppliers’ files and personnel files physically present in archives.

Conclusion

Our highlight this year was contributing to the Symposium in October 2016. It was exciting to see all the people that contributed and dedicated their time to educate our students to become successful in their education. Our students are the reason we are here—they drive us to strive for success for their benefit. It was an exciting year serving our students, and we look forward to the next!