Central Okanagan School District adopts sanctuary policy meant to protect newcomer kids

A public school district in B.C.'s Okanagan region has adopted a policy meant to ensure children of families with precarious immigration status can access education, without facing the possibility of interrogation or deportation.

The Central Okanagan school board voted unanimously Wednesday to implement a new policy that requires all schools across the district to act as sanctuaries for children who live in the district, which includes Kelowna, West Kelowna, Lake Country and Peachland.

The policy states that schools must enrol students regardless of their immigration status, and cannot share information about them and their families to immigration authorities unless under a court order or permit border agents or other immigration officials to enter schools or other district facilities unless required by a judge.

Outgoing trustee Nora Bowman said she put forward the motion in June after learning about a similar policy that was first adopted by the New Westminster school district in 2017.

"Even though trustees come from different kinds of political perspectives, we all agree that every child in our school district deserves an education," she said.

"If you imagine a kid sitting at home not being able to go to school, and then that kid can go to school and come learn how to read and write and play and can learn about our Indigenous cultures … it's pretty huge, even if we only help two or three kids."

'Really tragic' if kids can't go to school, professor says

In a presentation to the school board, Okanagan College anthropology professor Amy Cohen said the Canadian government estimates more than half a million people in the country do not have any immigration status, and the status of thousands more is precarious.

"Some of these folks come to Canada as migrant workers or temporary workers and lose their status. Others come as refugee claimants and their refugee claims are denied," she said.

"It's really tragic to imagine that there are children in our communities who can't go to school because of their family status."

Cohen added that some newcomers in New Westminster said before that school district's sanctuary policy was implemented, they didn't send their kids to school, fearing that administrators might feel compelled to share their information to immigration authorities.

"I talked to a father of six children who was active in the fight for a sanctuary schools policy in New Westminster, and he talked about how having no status was like being a prisoner," she said.

"He would watch other kids going to school and had to say [to his kids] 'you can't go.'"

Earlier this year, the B.C. School Trustees Association passed a motion encouraging sanctuary school policies in all school districts across the province.

Assistant superintendent Raquel Steen said the Central Okanagan School District's policy was supported by the province, and she hopes the new board elected on Oct. 15 will continue the policy.

"Our goal is to ensure that all students, all children, have an education and have the right to an education," she said on CBC's Daybreak South.

"We will do everything we can to ensure that that happens."