Red Crow students getting a new home
As investigators continue to probe the cause of a fire that destroyed a First Nations college in southern Alberta last week, officials say the hundreds of displaced students will have a place to attend their courses for the upcoming fall semester.
Officials with Red Crow Community College announced Tuesday that the approximately 300 students will be moved to the Saipoyi School in nearby Stand Off at the start of September.
Henry Bigthroat, vice- president of the college, said the facility was slated to move to the temporary space in 2016 but the fire forced them to make the move a year earlier than planned. The tenants of the building agreed to relocate to make way for the students.
“We have enough classrooms to start, we have all our schedules in place, we have hired our instructors,” Bigthroat said. “We just have to start in a different location.”
The blaze broke out at the college — the former site of St. Mary’s Residential school — around 4 a. m. Friday on the third floor, where electrical equipment and computer labs were housed. The cause, while still under investigation, is suspected to be electrical. Flames tore through the 98- year- old building, burning furniture, computers, audio visual equipment, books, student records and cultural artifacts. The college had survived a deliberately set fire in 2001, according to police. But this time, the structure is a writeoff.
The fire elicited mixed emotions from those who attended the residential school, which closed in 1984.
In 1986, the building was turned into a community college, offering programs in addictions counselling, health care and social work, as well as adult upgrading courses, transfer courses and courses in the Blood Tribe’s culture, language and history.
“This is an extremely huge challenge and loss,” said Charlene Mountain Horse, chair of the college’s board of governors. “But we have no choice but to move forward and try and make some sort of positive plan for the education of our post- secondary students.”
The college is raising funds to replace much- needed supplies, with administrative help from the Mikai’Sto Foundation. The foundation’s CEO, Ruth Provost, said donations are being accepted at the Red Crow Community College campus in Lethbridge, the Scotiabank in Stand Off, the Peterson and Purvis law office in Lethbridge, and online through its Go Fund Me page. Provost added the foundation has been in touch with the province to seek government assistance.
Bigthroat said it’s too early to determine where the college will be rebuilt, adding it will likely remain at the temporary location for up to two years.