Community celebrates Saskatoon school, facing demolition after 60 years
It’s the end of an era for Princess Alexandra School in Saskatoon's Riversdale neighbourhood.
The 60-year-old building will be demolished this fall to make way for the construction of a new school which will combine students from Princess Alexandra, King George and Pleasant Hill schools.
The new building is set to open in 2025. In the meantime, dozens celebrated Princess Alexandra and what it has meant to the community.
Seraphine Sammy attended the school in the 80s, then saw three children and three nieces follow in her footsteps.
“It’s pretty awesome, but sad at the same time. I’m going to miss this school so much,” Sammy told CTV News.
She plans to take a walk through the halls of the school in the coming days as one final memory of the building.
“It’s going to be very emotional because this is my school and my kids’ school and it’s just going to be really sad," she says.
The celebration ceremony involved a land acknowledgment by Grade 8 student Penguin Dejarlais, who told the crowd that the land on which they stood has a rich and proud history.
The current building, built in 1962, is the third school on this site. The first was built in 1907 and the second in 1908.
“In a few short months this building will be gone and the construction of a new school will begin. This land will always be a reminder of the schools that once served this community. Despite the structure that stands here this land will always keep us connected to the past, present and future,” Dejarlais said.
Those in attendance joined in a walk to King George School on Avenue K, symbolizing the unity of the communities which will see students coming together once the new school opens.
In a ceremonial fire teaching, an ember was taken from a fire burning at the ceremony at Princess Alexandra and put in a sealed container to be taken to King George school to be placed in the new school once it opens.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
Investigators have finally revealed the identity of an unknown victim nicknamed 'Midtown Jane Doe,' who was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City two decades ago.