Ecole Valois School. (File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Ian Gustafson

Long Process

SCFPA frustrated by no commitment for future of École Valois in provincial budget

Mar 29, 2020 | 12:00 PM

The French-Canadian Society of Prince Albert (SCFPA) stated in a media release on Friday they’re frustrated there was no commitment in the provincial budget regarding the future of École Valois and other Franchophone community spaces.

SCFPA spokesperson Estelle Hjertaas told paNOW the main reason for the statement was to keep their membership informed with what is going on with the school.

“Even though the whole COVID-19 thing is happening obviously this is not a priority right now but each of our community members are still going to be interested in knowing what happened,” Hjertaas said. “We wanted to let them know that despite our work there is nothing in the fiscal update about [it].”

paNOW reported in September of 2018 discussions were in early stages for a new school for the Francophone community due to overcrowding at École Valois. A year later in March 2019 the provincial government and Conseil des Écoles Fransaskoises (CÉF) partnered up and Regina confirmed plans for a new school were in the works. A month later they thought they may be close to finding a new home and president of the society at the time Michel Dubé said he expected a decision soon.

The Rivier Academy was mentioned as a possible replacement. According to a media release, a business plan was submitted to acquire and transform the academy as a community school which meets the requirements of the project. The building is operated by the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary.

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“It’s definitely frustrating for the whole province because the schools are too small for the number of students in them right now,” Hjertaas said. “There was a meeting with the minister back in December and then the understanding was that they wanted us to put forward a business plan about how we were going to make this work.”

She said the plan put forward was for the Rivier Academy to be a shared space, with a community school on one side and a community space on the other.

“We have not heard back,” Hjertaas said. “We don’t know exactly what the situation is. Obviously it’s not a priority right now, but we thought it was worthwhile for our membership to be up to date and know what’s going on.”

“We’re, I guess, frustrated because when someone asked us like ‘Hey present us a case for this’ and then that was done we thought we would at least hear back feedback about the case.”

Ministry of Education Media Relations Consultant Chris Hodges provided paNOW with an email statement:

“The government continues to recognize and be committed to the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding with the Conseil des Écoles Fransaskoises. That commitment is to develop schools in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert by 2025,” he wrote. “The province continues to work closely with CEF to address the infrastructure needs of Saskatchewan’s Francophone community.”

Hjertaas said the next steps are first and foremost to handle the COVID-19 pandemic and to wait it out.

“If people are able to get back to work in the future, we can have discussions about this and figure out what exactly is going on,” Hjertaas explained. “I don’t want this to be like a ‘we’re super mad at the government’ [situation.] Obviously we understand the situation but at the same time people have been working at this for a while and people want to know what’s happening.”

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Ian.gustafson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @iangustafson12