Classroom portables expected to arrive in Colville Lake, N.W.T., this winter

The Colville Lake School, pictured in January 2020. The building at left houses the local high school. (John Last/CBC)

By Luke Carroll, RCI, CBC News

Parent says the school conditions are like ‘a third world country’

Multiple classroom portables are expected to arrive in Colville Lake, N.W.T. by winter road this year to help alleviate issues with crowding at the community’s aging school.

If they arrive on time, the plan is for the portables to be operational by next school year.

To Sheena Snow, a concerned Colville Lake parent, that doesn’t solve the major issues facing the school. She said the necessary solution is a new building. This is something the community is planning to have built, but the project is still in the early stages.

“It’s just not happening. And I don’t think it’ll ever happen, I think we’re going to be stuck in the old rotting log building and the different trailers that we have to use,” Snow said.

“For us community members, it feels like a third world country school where there’s just complete poverty.”

The main building is made from logs. It’s an octagonal shaped school, so there aren’t square classrooms. The walls are made of plywood that only go up about halfway, meaning the noise travels between classrooms, Snow said.

Snow went to school there and knows what it’s like for her children.

“They don’t like it, they don’t like going to school, they’d rather stay at home, at home is warm,” she said.

“In school in the winter, it’s cold from the windows because they have such old outdated windows.”

The cold is another concern she has with portables, as students need to go outside to get to their classes in -50 C, which can be dangerous.

The portables are costing the N.W.T. government $3.9 million, and will include two classrooms and one bathroom.

The community has been wanting a new school for years, if not decades.

Education Minister Caitlin Cleveland said she appreciates hearing the concerns from Snow, adding that she’s also spoken with students from Colville Lake about their experience at the school.

She said both the territorial government and the community government share a common goal of getting the school built. But that it will take time, as it’s different from most projects.

This is because Behdzi Ahda First Nation has taken the lead on creating the school instead of the territorial government, which usually oversees the creation of new schools.

Cleveland said the N.W.T. government is working with the First Nation to finalize a design plan chosen by the First Nation. This needs to be completed before moving onto the next stage.

In September, Behdzi Ahda First Nation Chief Richard Kochon told CBC News there’s been some development on the school, including gravel being laid and some funding being secured.

“I think the government is going to come up with half of the money, and the community too,” he said.

Kochon said with the community taking the lead on designing the school, it allows them to plan it so that they can focus on northern education.

“We want our kids to learn the northern way, how to work in the cold weather, check nets in the cold weather, how to survive in the cold weather too,” he said.