By Colton Swiderski

La Loche Dene High School to be renovated after tragedy

Aug 17, 2016 | 12:16 PM

While the nearly $1-million in funding announcements for La Loche schools may not be a direct result of the sad events in January, Premier Brad Wall said the tragedy has focused efforts on what specifically will help the community.

During his Aug. 16 visit, Wall announced $750,000 was set aside to renovate the Dene High School, nearly seven months after two teachers were shot and killed in the building. When the provincial budget was announced, Wall said money was set aside for La Loche, however, it wasn’t earmarked for any one specific project or plan.

“We didn’t know specifically what those commitments would be (when the budget was announced), so general numbers were budgeted for and then we built specific initiatives around that,” Wall said.

The high school will also receive $20,000 from the Ministry of Education for new gymnasium equipment and in addition to four counsellors, new teachers could also be hired within the Northern Lights School Division (NLSD).

When classes resumed for students, security guards were stationed at both Dene High School and Ducharme Elementary. Town council requested security for the past ten years, but were always told money wasn’t available. Security and phone systems also received a $140,000 upgrade.

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Seven months ago, community leaders, elders and residents called for the Dene School to be torn down.  La Loche Mayor Kevin Janvier said the sentiment reflected the feeling following the incident.

“The community was shattered at that time, sometimes it comes out because of frustration. Now, I see there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and moving forward with the Saskatchewan government, this government here has been really good to us and we’re willing to work with them,” he said.

Janvier said the first thing to be done, is to ask for the community’s input. 

In total, provincial investments in the La Loche schools’ infrastructure, staffing hires, and upgrades comes just short of $1-million.

On Friday, Jan. 22, an armed youth shot and killed four people at a residence and at the Dene High School in La Loche. 

Colton Swiderski is meadowlakeNOW’s municipal affairs, crime and court, health and education reporter. He can be reached at cswiderski@jpbg.ca or tweet him @coltonswiderski.