After her home burnt down, school bans Rinelle Harper because she no longer lives on reserve

[Mr. Ambien]

After her home burnt down, school bans Rinelle Harper because she no longer lives on reserve

After 10 months spent recovering from the violent sex attack that transformed her into a national symbol, Rinelle Harper looked forward to starting Grade 12 this month, going shopping for new clothes and fresh school supplies.

Instead, the shy, soft-spoken 16-year-old remains at home, because Southeast Collegiate, the Winnipeg boarding school she left her northern reserve to attend, and which she came to love, refused to have her back.

The school is for on-reserve students only, and Rinelles family no longer qualifies, because they have moved permanently to Winnipeg. Their home in the fly-in-only community of Garden Hill, Man., burned down while the Harpers stayed with Rinelle as she was being treated in Winnipeg for injuries from the Nov. 7, 2014, attack.

Rinelle is devastated, said Julie Harper. Her friends, her support system, are all at Southeast.

Rinelle had attended Southeast Collegiate, owned by the Southeast Resource Development Council, a tribal council made up of eight Manitoba First Nations, for two years, playing volleyball and concentrating on biology and other studies.

We are at capacity at the lodge, said Southeast principal Sheryl McCorrister. The criteria changed. They are not from a remote community. That makes them ineligible. On top of that, we didnt receive their applications.

Julie Harper says she spoke to McCorrister on Aug. 13, and was told both Rinelle and her 18-year-old sister, Rayne, were not eligible to attend.

Although McCorrister says she never received their registration papers, Harper is adamant that the papers were sent to the school ahead of the June 30 deadline. She feels the family is unfairly being shut out of the school and that when it comes to residency requirements, her older daughter also deserves special consideration.

McCorrister said if she were to receive the registration papers now, the best we could do is to consider putting them on a waitlist. They cant take the spot of the other students who qualify. Her spot was filled.

Rinelle has not started classes at any school. She is on a wait list at a different institution, which her family doesnt want to disclose for safety reasons.

The family live in a $950-a-month rental house, getting by on a modest sponsorship allowance Julie Harper gets for a post-secondary program she is attending. In addition, several fundraising campaigns were set up to help the family following the fire.

They rose to prominence after the attack, which made national headlines and generated a discussion about the epidemic of missing and murdered aboriginal women.

Rinelle had been out on a Friday night celebrating the completion of her high school midterms when she was attacked and left for dead along the Assiniboine River.

She became separated from her group of friends. At around midnight, she was followed by the young men who beat her, threw her in the river and then, after she emerged, beat her again with a baseball bat. She was found seven hours later on the bank of the river by a passerby, barely alive.

Two suspects, who were 20 and 17 at the time of the attack, face several charges, including attempted murder, aggravated sexual assault, and sexual assault with a weapon.

Following the attacks, Rinelle has required the care of a number of specialists, and her family feels having continuity at school will help Rinelle as she recovers from the trauma.

According to her mother, Rinelle has had very little therapy in the wake of the assault because she qualifies for only a limited government funded therapy and the family cant afford psychological care. Some of Rinelles greatest support has come from her friends at Southeast Collegiate.

I want to finish my high school where I started, says Rinelle.

Next week Rinelle will undergo her second surgery for injuries sustained during the attack. The prospect of school, she says, has been a motivator thats helped her work hard at recovery. Without it, she feels lost.

Rinelle has suffered a lot. What makes her excited is when she talks about education. She wants to be a role model. She needs to be in school, says Julie.

Rinelle hopes to be a phys-ed teacher. In August she was invited by St. Francis Xavier University to tour the Antigonish, N.S., school and discuss scholarship opportunities. She hopes to attend next year.

She is about to begin work on a book about her experience, written with Vancouver author Maggie Devries. Harper Collins will publish Rinelles story next spring.

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/after-her-home-burnt-down-rinelle-harpers-school-says-she-cant-come-back-because-she-no-longer-lives-on-reserve

I remember her name coming up in some thread about racism in Winnipeg. Obviously this is a pretty sad ongoing story.

[Kakanucks]

Not very familiar with the topic, but is there a reason why she can't attend a regular school??

[Baer.]

We are at capacity at the lodge, said Southeast principal Sheryl McCorrister. The criteria changed. They are not from a remote community. That makes them ineligible. On top of that, we didnt receive their applications.

Pretty simple if you ask me.

[surtur]

Pretty simple if you ask me.

seems pretty clear cut. I like how the whole point of the story is to guilt the school into letting the kid in. It ain't their problem if you don't send your registration papers in on time or you move away from the eligible area.

Suck It up and go to a public school..

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

seems pretty clear cut. I like how the whole point of the story is to guilt the school into letting the kid in. It ain't their problem if you don't send your registration papers in on time or you move away from the eligible area.

Suck It up and go to a public school..

I guess you never heard of her and what happened to her. I guess you don't give a crap about anything.

[surtur]

I guess you never heard of her and what happened to her. I guess you don't give a crap about anything.

what does "what happened to her"have anything to do with the school following their rules on acceptance criteria she doesn't qualify to be there so she doesn't get to. Am I wrong?

[250Integra]

Must be the last name

[tbone909]

Well, I hope she finishes school regardless, more power to her.

[nucklehead]

what does "what happened to her"have anything to do with the school following their rules on acceptance criteria she doesn't qualify to be there so she doesn't get to. Am I wrong?

Sounds right to me. Thems the rules. They can't be changed just to accommodate one student regardless of their unfortunate situation. Adapt, make compromises. We all have to.