SASKATOON -- After years of schooling, Bedford Road Collegiate student Maegan Linklater had her sights set on graduation - the day she finishes high school and starts a new chapter in her life.

However, due to COVID-19, her school’s prom was cancelled, the graduation ceremony will now be done virtually, and there will be no post-graduation banquet. 

"It’s definitely disappointing. Last year I had a lot of my friends graduating and I saw them having all of these experiences, which obviously I got excited to be able to experience in my senior year," Linklater said.

"Now, we can’t do any of it.”

Linklater’s mother, Michelle, along with a few other parents, have been trying to work with the government on ways to safely host a banquet. 

She said she doesn’t love the idea of a virtual graduation, but understands the need considering the circumstances.

However, she said with all the different methods available to help keep a safe physical distance, she figures it shouldn’t take much to find a solution for a banquet. 

"I think we’re not doing enough for the graduates. I think we can be creative and still let that happen," Michelle said.

Michelle has voiced her complaints in an email to Premier Scott Moe, saying: "It’s okay for people to gather in bars and drink and may not be able to make decisions regarding social distancing after drinking, impairing their judgment, and for little kids that don’t have the concept of distancing from one another, but for grads who are soon to be adults, they get nothing.” 

Teri Waddell, mother of a graduate from Holy Cross, said she has been trying for months to get in contact with the Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools Board regarding the virtual graduation and being in the same room as her daughter when she receives the diploma.

"I don’t think it’s fair. I don’t understand why we can’t be in the same room, following social distancing, masks, hand sanitizer," Waddell said.

Her daughter is set to pre-record receiving her diploma on June 15 at Holy Cross, but as it stands now, Waddell is going to have to wait in the car during this big moment in her child’s life.