Letters sent to The Premier, Minister of Education, MLA's and Quesnel School District Trustees...
12 August 02
The Honourable Christy Clark, MLA
Minister of Education and Deputy Premier
PO Box 9045
STN PROV GOVT
Victoria, BC V8W 9E2
Dear Minister Clark:
We write to express our solidarity with Claire Kujundzic, her fellow hunger-strikers,
and the Wells-Barkerville Save Our Schools Committee. We are saddened
that your continued lack of accountability regarding massive school closures
around BC has brought activists and parents to this extraordinary and
courageous action.
For example, on July 24, you were interviewed by BCTV regarding the issue
that Ms. Kujundzic and her supporters are bringing to light. You replied
that whereas you were concerned about the issue, you have no control over
school closures. Minister Clark, as education minister, British Columbians
hold you responsible. We urge you to discuss this issue with School District
28 Trustees, and not allow these administrators to close schools while
giving themselves a six-figure salary increase.
We recently had occasion to visit Wells and Barkerville, and were surprised
at how treacherous the road could be - a one-hour grind uphill from Quesnel.
The road is lined with cliffs on one side, and a shifting marshy pond
on the other. Also, because of their elevation, Wells and Barkerville
get heavy snowfall for eight months of the year. We were shocked to hear
that children will now be travelling every day by bus on this route; Minister,
do you recall the scene in The Sweet Hereafter where a schoolbus
full of children sinks into an icy lake?
In your pre-election promises, you made these promises to British Columbians:
We can restore the sense of hope and prosperity
that defined BC's past, to build a future in every community that is ripe
with opportunity for our children and families. We can create a public
education system that's the envy of the world . . . We can revive the
spirit of democracy and reform our public services so they meet your needs.
(A Vision for Hope & Prosperity for the next decade and beyond, p.
2)
If you are a parent, we want you to know that your children will have
the education they need and the economic opportunity they deserve to build
a successful future at home in your community.
Our Vision:
1. A top-notch education system for students of all ages.
[. . .]
4. Safer streets and schools in every community.
5. Better services for children, families & First Nations.
[. . .]
9. The most open, accountable and democratic government in Canada.
10. Responsible, accountable management of your public resources and tax
dollars. (ibid, p. 3)
We urge you to live up to these promises by overturning School District
28's decision to subvert funds from the Small Community Supplement, which
you targeted for rural schools.
In another election promise in the same document, you said your government
would:
. . .[s]timulate tourism with a plan to improve
operators' ability to successfully compete for visitors from around the
world. (ibid, p. 10)
Wells is a thriving community that allows for the
operation of historic Barkerville, a major tourism draw for the area.
When we visited Barkerville last summer, we were surprised by the hundreds
of vehicles packed into the enormous parking lot; we could see by the
license plates that most of the cars belonged to international tourists.
Minister Clark, we know you must realize that closing the elementary school
in Wells will eventually make it a ghost-town. No community can continue
without the vital energy of young families. This means that Barkerville,
too, will be left without its lifeblood of employees and community. Your
election platform was entitled A Vision for Hope
& Prosperity for the next decade and beyond; we can't see how
the Wells school closure could mean anything but desperation, and never
mind the next decade, if all the families relocate to spare their children
the daily harrowing bus trips.
Here are more promises you made in that document:
Every day that a child is shut out of a classroom
is a learning day that is lost to that child forever . . . And it's always
our children who pay the biggest price for that mismanagement and those
misplaced priorities. We will invest in education and make each education
dollar go further. And we will grow the economy, to increase the funding
available for students of all ages, and provide the best education in
Canada.
A BC Liberal Government will:
o Devote more of each education dollar to improving the quality of education,
and less to bureaucracy.
o Support more flexibility and choice in public schooling.
(ibid, p. 16)
"Less to bureaucracy," please, Minister Clark. "Improve
the quality of education," instead of dashing all young hopes for
the future.
And we wonder if the premier remembers saying this, and whether he meant
it in the first place:
"Education is our top priority, because it's
the key to any healthy, prosperous society."
--Gordon Campbell (ibid, p. 17)
Minister Clark, no one is fooled by your government's method of setting
up puppets to cut health, education, social and legal services. Every
cut to education services is your responsibility. We enjoin you to act
accordingly.
Yours sincerely,
David Martin
Yukie Kurahashi
New Westminster, BC
cc: Gordon Campbell, Premier of the Province of British Columbia
Hon. Joyce Murray, Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection
Dr. John Wilson, MLA Cariboo North
Claire Kujundzic, Wells School Committee