THUNDER BAY – Canada’s Minister of Indigenous Services says the federal government has agreed to spend $13 million to build a temporary school in Eabametoong First Nation.
The northern Ontario community lost its school last month, leading to the arrest of four teenagers accused of setting the John C. Yesno Education Centre on fire and burning it to the ground. As a result, nearly 300 students, ranging from junior kindergarten to Grade 9, were left without a school to study in.
Patty Hadju, also the Liberal MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North, said she and other government officials met with community leadership and Matawa Tribal Council, where she delivered a promise to support the temporary replacement school.
The timelines are tight, Hajdu added.
“The work has to happen really quickly, to get some modular units up on the ice road, to clean up the site of the school and to make sure that students are well positioned for the fall,” Hajdu said.
“It is a matter of weeks. The work has begun. I have to really compliment Eabametoong council and the technical experts at Matawa who worked really hard together to get us a quote that was pretty detailed. So, we’ve approved that quote.”
The next step is detailing the logistics to make the best use of the ice roads that remain. Warmer weather this winter has impacted the viability of ice roads to several northern reserves, but Hajdu said Mother Nature won’t affect the timelines of the temporary school project.
“Obviously there is some contingency funding for any kind of airlift that might have to also support those transfers of modular units,” Hajdu said.
“They will be using a modular system to put the school together for the fall.”
The First Nation will own the modular units and can use them for other purposes once a permanent school is built.
Hajdu said the community was in the design phase already before the Jan. 25 fire destroyed the existing facility, which will hopefully lead to a faster turnaround time for that project. She estimated it could take up to three years to build once construction starts.
“There are multiple stages of any new structure, but the design stage is actually a good stage to be at because it means the feasibility study is done, that they’re now finalizing costing. But it usually does take anywhere between one to three years to build the school once the shovels are actually in the ground.”
