A former teacher, principal and Stz’uminus nation councillor has been elected to the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school board with more than double the number of votes of the candidate he was running against.
Tim Harris received 594 votes out of the 818 valid votes in a byelection that wrapped up on Saturday.
Harris, a former long-time Stz’uminus First Nation councillor, ran against Snuneymuxw First Nation chief administrative officer Joan Brown, who received 224 votes.
The two candidates were vying for the seat vacated by former school board chair Charlene McKay, who resigned from her position in May.
“I’m excited to roll up my sleeves to put in the hard work to move the district forward,” Harris said in a statement on social media.
Harris campaigned on improving graduation rates for First Nations students and youth in care, as well as improving support for educators and educational facility upgrades.
According to a campaign biography, Harris, whose traditional name is Xaniimastan, worked as a commercial fisherman for more than a decade before becoming an educator.
He was a classroom teacher and then a First Nations school principal for nearly 10 years, the biography said.
Harris currently works for Kw’umut Lelum, a Nanaimo-based Indigenous child and family agency, where he is team lead of a program that prepares youth in care and young adults for independent living.
