New city school officially opens
Plenty of tributes for namesake Senator Joyce Fairbairn
Senator Joyce Fairbairn Middle School officially opened with great fanfare in west Lethbridge on Friday. The event started out with a powerful multimedia presentation highlighting the new school logo and sports team brand, “The Falcons,” before morphing into a tribute to the school’s powerful namesake, Sen. Joyce Fairbairn. While Fairbairn could not be present due to failing health, her presence in spirit was acknowledged by all who spoke during the dedication ceremony.
“Joyce Fairbairn was the first woman who was the leader in the Senate,” said Lethbridge West MLA and Minister of Environment and Parks Shannon Phillips. “She was given that role because she was so dedicated to a life of public service. There is a number of firsts for women who have come out of southern Alberta over the years. Southern Alberta women are resourceful and work hard, and there is a really strong sense of community.”
Phillips said Fairbairn’s dedication to community was also a great legacy for all in this city to aspire to.
“It fills me with such hope and optimism that you can actually deliver something in public life, and something which matters so deeply to the community — to parents, to teachers, to kids, and all of the people who work in schools that are committed to building this province, and building Lethbridge,” she said.
Glenn Miller spent 15 years working as a volunteer aide de camps with Fairbairn. He felt the new school is a fitting tribute to a woman who has been a lifetime advocate for literacy, inclusion and community service.
“If she could be here today,” he said, “she would be very proud. And she would say to the school principal: ‘What can I do to help in promoting education at this school?’”
Sen. Scott Tannas made his way down from High River to present the school with an official Canadian Senate flag — an honour the Senate has never bestowed on any other school in its history.
“We felt if there is going to be one place where it flies (outside of Parliament Hill) it should be here in Lethbridge at Senator Fairbairn School,” he told reporters. “Senator Fairbairn was a powerful woman before anybody was bothering measuring that, and was in so many ways a trailblazer. She was a strong leader and a proud citizen of this community.”
Sen. Joyce Fairbairn Middle School principal Bill Bartlett said he and his staff will do their utmost to live up to Fairbairn’s legacy going forward.
“To be honoured with this position (as principal), and to be able to work with this wonderful group of teachers and support staff has been fabulous,” said Bartlett. “But then to have the kids come in and work with them, and push the vision of what a school might be — I consider it an absolute gift to be here.”
Education Minister David Eggen, who was also present for the school’s official opening Friday, expressed his pride that his government has invested so heavily in education infrastructure, despite facing other dire economic pressures these past three years.
“The strongest resource we have is not oil or agriculture, it is people,” said Eggen. “We make a good investment in these young kids here today, and we will continue to be a world leader here in the province of Alberta.”