School trustee defends controversial presentation

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This article was published 04/05/2024 (875 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Mountain View school trustee who came under fire for comments about Indigenous people during a presentation last week said he made his remarks to protest a federal anti-racism program on behalf of his constituents.

Ward 2 trustee Paul Coffey downplayed the harms of residential schools, defended calling Indigenous people “Indian,” and said the concept of white privilege was racist during an almost half-hour-long address at the April 22 board of trustees meeting in Dauphin.

Coffey was a guest on Wednesday’s edition of “The Shadoe Davis Show,” an online livestream hosted by a former Winnipeg radio host. The trustee was said to be on vacation in Florida for three weeks.

During the roughly 35-minute interview, Coffey said he was against what he called an $85-million anti-racism program with a $25-million top-up created by the Province of Manitoba.

“When you come to anti-racism, anywhere you look, you’re going to find decolonization and white privilege,” Coffey said. “Any of my constituents, all the people I know are not for decolonization and white privilege. Those things cause division and oppression.

“As a trustee, it’s my duty to present to the board that if this anti-racism policy comes into effect and it has those definitions in there, people aren’t going to sign on and it’s going to be a failure.”

However, no such provincial program exists. In the 2022 budget, the federal government created an anti-racism program with an anti-Indigenous racism component that it topped up with additional funding in the 2023 budget.

He expressed surprise that his remarks were received poorly, because he had to sit through presentations “about men wearing dresses, porn in our libraries and stuff” and thanked those presenters.

After referring to himself as a trustee, Coffey said he should clarify that he was making those remarks as an individual and not as a trustee.

Davis asked Coffey how many of his fellow trustees were “common sense” — as in, who agreed with his presentation and his views on transgender people. Coffey said the majority of trustees agree with him.

Coffey said no representatives of the school division have said anything to him about his presentation or the backlash to it.

Regarding the news release sent out by board chair Gabe Mercier stating that Coffey was speaking as an individual and not on behalf of the board, Coffey said he wasn’t sure if those were actually Mercier’s own words.

He said a followup release by Supt. Stephen Jaddock that criticized Coffey’s remarks “wasn’t very charming.”

Another comment made by Davis, which Coffey nodded along to, was that the treaties signed by Indigenous peoples and the Crown are contributing to “gang life” on reserves.

When Davis asked Coffey what the root of the problem was, aside from “the government giving them money,” the trustee said it was because Indigenous people are constantly being told that they’re victims.

Reached by email, Mercier said that any comment he had about Coffey’s remarks on the show would be issued through the school division after consulting with the rest of the board.

Later Friday, Mercier issued a statement through the division’s website.

It didn’t address Coffey’s latest remarks, but acknowledged the governance review ordered by Education Minister Nello Altomare.

“The MVSD Board of Trustees will fully cooperate with the review and will provide all necessary information pertaining to the scope of the review,” Mercier wrote. “The trustee byelection that was slated to occur at the end of June 2024 will be postponed to a time in the early months of the new 2024-2025 school year.”

In the meantime, Mercier said the board would continue to hold its regular meetings on scheduled dates.

Ward 1 trustee Leifa Misko said she had not been aware Coffey had given an interview and could not make an informed comment. She advised the Sun to reach out to Mercier for comment as per board policy.

Emails sent Friday requesting comment from the rest of the board, including Coffey, went unanswered.

In an open letter to Altomare dated May 2, Southern Chiefs’ Organization Grand Chief Jerry Daniels wrote that Coffey has failed to meet his duties as a trustee as defined in Manitoba’s Public Schools Act.

“The subsequent silence and compliance of the entire board calls into question the ability of the current trustees to fulfil their obligations and duties,” Daniels wrote. “Everyone who is witness to racism and discrimination in positions of leadership has a responsibility to speak up and address it in the moment to stop the harms from being perpetuated.”

Daniels said he was pleased to hear Altomare had launched a review of Mountain View School Division, “but there is much more to be done.

The grand chief once again called for Coffey’s removal, after first doing so in an April 25 statement, and for a specific investigation into the conduct of all trustees in MVSD and the Hanover School Division. Grand Chief Cathy Merrick of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has also called for Coffey’s removal from the board.

A group of parents in the Hanover division have alleged that a new board policy giving trustees the final say on the hiring of gym and music teachers is an attempt to reduce the number of 2SLGBTQIA+ staff.

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