A fire swept through the school in Waterhen Lake First Nation last week. (Felicia LaPratt Photo)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

Waterhen Update

Waterhen Lake First Nation healing after fire levels school

Jun 6, 2024 | 12:29 PM

The community of Waterhen Lake First Nation is looking to the future and focusing on the next stages in the process following last week’s fire that destroyed the school and damaged the band office.

“They’re still dealing with the loss, had some of our mental health staff go around visiting homes and checking up on them,” Chief Blaine Fiddler said of the community.

He explained that there is much work to be done and while they haven’t heard back from the government, they had their insurer out to look at the damage to both the school and office building.

“The next step is to…assess the site,” he said, noting because of the building’s age (the first section was built in the 1970s) it needs to be tested for possible asbestos.

“Once that’s determined, we will start the cleanup.”

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What remains of the school following the fire. (Bonnie Delorme/Facebook)

As the community begins to heal, activities like a student fundraiser were organized and Fiddler said it help lift spirits. He explained he recently returned from Ottawa and had met with ministers while there.

“They gave us their full support that we will be getting a new school and hopefully sooner than expected but, we still have to go through the process of the feasibility study,’ he said.

Meanwhile, the students are now out for the summer and teachers are working to get their marks in for the younger grades and continue to plan to rebuild. As for the band office, they can’t go inside until an environmental assessment is done and Fiddler said at the moment they have moved into a new heath centre though they will be moving into another office building in July.

“We’re kinda all over the place right now,” he said.

In the meantime, Fiddler is grateful for the community’s support.

“I’d just wanted to thank everyone that was involved and helped us get through this,” he said, noting the Meadow Lake Tribal Council health staff and emergency management along with other chiefs and councils responded to the call for support.

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

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