The Esquimalt Nation was blindsided by the multiple versions of a school safety plan the Greater Victoria School Board filed this week and called the board’s handling of the controversy “incomprehensible.”

In a letter to Education ­Minister Lisa Beare released Thursday, the nation said that even four days after the release of all the board’s plans, the board still has not notified First Nations about all the ­alternate versions and what they mean.

“Continuing to work with a board that repeatedly ­dismisses the nations’ role as rights ­holders is unacceptable,” said the letter, signed by Esquimalt Nation education director Kalie Dyer, on behalf of Chief Jerome Thomas. “A safe relationship requires respect, transparency , accountability and trust.

“The board’s ongoing response undermines these elements, creating a dynamic that will continue to perpetuate a dysfunctional and harmful relationship.”

It’s the second time in five weeks the Indigenous government has vehemently objected publicly to the school board’s handling of controversy over its decision to bar local police departments’ efforts to make liaison officers routinely available in schools.

Thomas and Songhees Chief Ron Sam wrote to the board Dec. 2 saying the policy imposed last year curtailed the work of a well-thought-of Indigenous RCMP liaison officer and was imposed........

© Times Colonist