Council gives nod to Lheidli T’enneh Library Board membership

PRINCE GEORGE – There are currently nine members on the Board for the Prince George Public Library. All of them are representatives of the community. However, there is a section of the Library Act that excludes members of the broader community.

“So that means that we appoint and they have to be residents of the city,” explains Councillor Garth Frizzell. “So as the library itself was reaching out to very active in reconciliation, they came up against this fact that City Council appoints and you can only appoint residents who live in the city boundaries.”

That’s where the library Board found a loophole. It’s a section of the Library Act that reads that a library board may “… enter into a written agreement to cooperate in the provision of library services with one or more of the following: (c) a regional district; or (d) an aboriginal government. Such agreements may include “the appointment of one or more members to the library board of a municipal library by a regional district or aboriginal government that enters into the agreement with that library board.