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New schools in Northern Manitoba First Nations will enable youth to complete high school at home

An investment of nearly a quarter of a billion dollars for new schools in four Northern Manitoba First Nations announced Nov. 16 will mean that students from two of those communities will now be able to complete high school without leaving home.
Indigenous Services Canada Minister Jane Philpott, right, met with chiefs from four Northern Manitob
Indigenous Services Canada Minister Jane Philpott, right, met with chiefs from four Northern Manitoba First Nations Nov. 16 to announce $248 million of the construction of four new schools and the renovation of another.

An investment of nearly a quarter of a billion dollars for new schools in four Northern Manitoba First Nations announced Nov. 16 will mean that students from two of those communities will now be able to complete high school without leaving home.

The federal government’s Indigenous Services department said last Friday that it was spending $248 million to build new schools in Bunibonibee Cree Nation, God’s Lake First Nation, Manto Sipi Cree Nation and Wasagamack First Nation. An existing school for kindergarten to Grade 6 students in Bunibonibee will also receive extensive renovations. Together, the five schools will serve over 2,600 students. The schools in God’s Lake First Nation and Manto Sipi Cree Nation will both accommodate students from kindergarten to Grade 12. The current school in Manto Sipi Cree Nation only offers education up to Grade 11 while students in God’s Lake First Nation have to leave their community to complete their education after finishing Grade 9.

“That’s a big part of what the communities are really happy about,” Indigenous Services Canada Minister Jane Philpott told the Thompson Citizen. “The chiefs emphasized today how hard it is on the parents when their kids have to leave the community. Sometimes the parents have to leave as well because they don't want to have their kids alone in another place. This means the children will be able to stay in the community, their families will be able to stay with them and that will be a huge impact.”

Bunibonibee Cree Nation will have new school built for students from Grade 7 to 12.

"For our children this has been a long dream,” said Bunibonibee Cree Nation Chief Timothy Muskego in a press release. “Today we celebrate with them as their dream has now become true. For every young person there has to be a real way to enjoy their youth and having a nice school is a powerful way."

Construction of the schools is expected to begin in the spring of 2019 and the four First Nations have already signed a $190-million contract with Penn-Co Construction Services Canada Ltd. to act as the general project manager. Indigenous Services Canada is providing another $58 million to support other expenses related to building these schools and says using a consolidated approach to procurement will reduce the overall construction cost of each school.

“They’re ready to get the materials shipped up by winter road over the winter to break ground in the spring,”  said Philpott, adding that each of the four First Nations were very involved in the design of the schools. “They’ve worked with the architect on the plan for what they want the schools to look like, what kind of equipment and facilities there will be, how they want it to be respectful of traditional ways of learning and traditional ways of building. They will be considerably larger than the existing schools. I think if you go through the communities case by case, they’re in very cramped quarters and that’s one of the reasons why they haven’t been able to keep their students in the communities as well as the fact that the current schools don’t have the appropriate equipment, science laboratories and stuff like that. They will be modern, state-of-the-art facilities built to last and built to the highest environmental standards of energy efficiency as well.”

Building the schools will also provide opportunities for local employment and for members of the communities to learn new skills.

“They’re going to try to make sure lots of local people are employed and they are going to build a skilled workforce that will be able contribute not only to the building of this infrastructure but to other infrastructure in the communities in the years ahead,” the minister said

Although the announcement marked the beginning of the construction phase, Philpott says these projects are long-awaited.

“This is something that the communities have been advocating for for at least a decade so they’ve been working on it for a very long time but finally it’s coming to reality,” Philpott said.

 
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