Feasibility study for school at Curve Lake planned

CURVE LAKE -- Curve Lake First Nation is expecting a funding announcement on Friday: the federal government is committing money for a school feasibility study.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett will make the announcement alongside Status of Women Minister Maryam Monsef, the MP for Peterborough-Kawartha.

“This study will identify the best approach to ensure that the First Nation has the highest quality learning environment for its youth,” states a press release.

The announcement is taking place Friday at 10 a.m. at the Curve Lake Cenotaph on Mississauga Street at Curve Lake First Nation.

There is a school on the reserve at the moment: Curve Lake First Nation School has been locally operated since 1995.

But it offers programming for young children only, from junior kindergarten to Grade 3. Beyond Grade 3, students typically have to travel to Lakefield or Peterborough for school.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada provides funding for students who live on reserve and are enrolled in elementary or secondary school programs.

Meanwhile, Curve Lake is still waiting for federal funding to build a water treatment plant.

Chief Phyllis Williams said earlier this year that Curve Lake has needed a water treatment plant for more than a decade – at a cost of about $25 million.

She said boil-water advisories are issued every week – if not every day – in various parts of the reserve.

The federal government is taking note of these boil-water advisories; one First Nation got money toward clean water earlier this week.

On Wednesday, Bennett announced $9.2 million to replace a water treatment system on the White Bear First Nation, southeast of Regina.

More than 800 residents on that reserve haven’t been able to drink their water since 2011, CBC reported this week.

The funding is part of the federal government’s commitment to end long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on reserves by 2021, CBC reported.

Williams has spoken publicly about the lack of federal funding for her community’s water treatment plant on several occasions, this year.

She called out Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, when he was at a town hall meeting at the Evinrude Centre in January, asking him when he might deliver on his promise of clean drinking water for all reserves.

“I even tried embarrassing the prime minister,” Williams said in an interview earlier this year. “I didn’t get even a nod or a smile, or even recognition.”

In an interview in March, Monsef said Williams is right to speak up about the lack of clean water for her community.

“She has every reason to be impatient and restless about this,” Monsef said. “This is my number one priority.”