The Prince George Public Library (PGPL) and Lheidli T’enneh First Nation have announced the appointment of Councillor Wendy Jael to the Prince George Public Library board as part of the organizations’ newly-formed cooperation agreement.
Members of the PGPL Board are appointed according to the terms of the BC Library Act. Under the Act, library board members must be residents of the municipality. Prior to this agreement, community members living in the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George, including those living at the Lheidli T’enneh town site, have been ineligible to join the Library Board. The agreement required extensive collaboration between the City of Prince George, the Library Board, and Lheidli T’enneh.
“PGPL has been diligently working with various organizations to ensure we could grow our Board composition to include an appointee selected by Lheidli T’enneh,” said board chair Anna Duff. “One of the important goals of the truth and reconciliation process is to promote opportunities for Indigenous community members to have meaningful engagement in public organizations. I eagerly welcome councillor Jael to her seat at the PGPL Board table and look forward to working alongside her and all trustees as we conduct the important governance work of the library board. All of PGPL extends our gratitude to Chief Logan, Lheidli T’enneh councillors, and the staff who shared our vision and invested energy into developing this agreement and selecting Wendy for this governance role.”
“Over the past several years, Lheidli T’enneh has been deeply engaged in on-going discussions and relationship building exercises with a variety of community groups, organizations, and businesses that serve our shared community members,” said Chief Dolleen Logan. “The opportunity for a member of our governing body to join the Prince George Public Library’s board of directors is a fantastic opportunity to enhance these on-going collaborations. As a group, council all agreed that Councillor Jael would represent us, and our members, incredibly well at the table and we look forward to celebrate the joint successes of this new phase in our relations with the library.”