National Day of Mourning a time to reflect on COVID costs :SGEU

Michael Oleksyn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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National Day of Mourning a time to reflect on COVID costs :SGEU

April 28 is the National Day of Mourning Saskatchewan Government for workers killed, injured, or made sick on the job. The Saskatchewan Government General Employees Union (SGEU) is using the day as an opportunity to recognize the human costs of COVID-19 and the frontline workers who have gotten sick and died from being exposed at work.

According to the union approximately 1,000 Canadian workers, and more than 2.7 million workers around the world, die because of an injury or an exposure that happens at work.

“This year the Day of Mourning has the added significance of highlighting the human costs of COVID-19,” SGEU Acting President Roseann Strelezki said.

They added in a release that in the province nearly 500 (482 as of April 27) people have died from the COVID-19 virus with many who were exposed at work.

“As of April 26 two thirds of the current COVID-19 outbreaks in the province were classified as workplace outbreaks and most of the remainder are in locations like schools and correctional centres where workers are also at risk,”she explained.

She explained that the pandemic has made plain the fact that workers are unacceptably vulnerable and have few protections, low wages, and no paid sick leave to help them.

“It only makes sense, people who have paid sick days they can stay home when they are sick whereas if they don’t get paid for those days they need the money so they are going to go to work. When they go to work and they are sick they are infecting other employees and the public,” Strelezki said.
According to Strelezki, union members have paid sick days as a right that has been bargained for.

“Other workers in our communities don’t and I just feel for them, if they are living paycheck to paycheck how do they take a sick day? That one day can mean the difference of having a phone bill or power bill or a place to live,” she explained.

“It’s not just like a common cold either, it’s days and days of getting better. If all employees across Canada, all of the workers of Canada had paid sick leave they would be able to stay home and not infect the community. And let’s face it when they are out there in public during a pandemic they also carry it home to their families and make them sick as well.”

In a release the union noted that the day is a time to mourn and a time to renew the fight to make sure that working people are safe on the job every single day.

The SGEU is joining other Canadian unions in calling on all governments to immediately introduce or expand paid sick leave and ensure workers aren’t required to put themselves and others at risk by going to work sick.

“It is also why SGEU is working hard to keep all of our members safe. We are lobbying for priority vaccine access for essential frontline workers, fighting for better PPE and we are advocating for our members to work from home. At the same time we are calling on the government to improve labour legislation and working conditions across our province,” she said.

The Day of Mourning itself is important to Strelezki.

“The Day of Mourning what it means to me is a reminder to us to renew our commitment to occupational health and safety in all workplaces not just unionized workplaces, all workplaces. And like from the bottom of my heart I feel that one,” she said.

Province reports six deaths related to COVID-19 Tuesday

Michael Oleksyn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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Province reports six deaths related to COVID-19 Tuesday

Saskatchewan health officials reported six new deaths related to COVID-19 on Tuesday.

There were four deaths reported in the South East zone with two in the 80 plus age group, one in the 60 to 69 age group and one in the 40 to 49 age group. The Two other deaths were in the Regina. One was in the 80 plus age group and one in the 60 to 69 age group were reported in the Regina zone.

The number of deaths related to COVID-19 has risen to 482.

On Tuesday there were 17 cases reported in North Central, which includes Prince Albert.

This was among a total of 224 cases reported in the province. Regina led the province with 30 new cases reported.

North Central 2, which is Prince Albert, has 55 active cases, an increase of five from the day prior. North Central 1, which includes communities such as Christopher Lake, Candle Lake and Meath Park, has 29 active cases and North Central 3 has 44 active cases.

Two cases with a pending residence have been assigned to North Central.

There are currently 186 COVID-19 patients in hospital across the province. Of the 144 reported as receiving inpatient care, there are six in North Central. Of the 42 people reported as being in intensive care, there are two in North Central.

The current seven-day average for new cases is 248, or 20.2 cases per 100,000 population. Of the 40,401 reported COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan, 2,518 are considered active.

Another 238 recoveries were reported on Tuesday, bringing the total number of recoveries to 37,401.

Since the start of the pandemic, 8,976 cases are from the North area (3,801 North West, 3,746 North Central and 1,429 North East).

There were 2,865 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on April 26.

As of today there have been 759,166 COVID-19 tests performed in Saskatchewan.

There were 5,045 doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered in Saskatchewan bringing the total number of vaccines administered in the province to 408,429.

There were 305 doses administered in the North Central Zone reported on Tuesday. Doses were also administered in the adjacent North East, North West, Far North West, Far North East, Far North Central, Central East, Central West, South Central, South East, South West, South Central, Regina and Saskatoon.

There were 284 doses administered with zone of residence pending.

According to the province, 58 per cent of residents over the age of 40 have received their first dose and 39 per cent of those 18 plus have received their first dose

99 variants of concern identified in North Central

There are now 99 confirmed variants of concern (VOC) cases identified by the province in the North Central zone, as of April 26.

This was among 6,301 variants of concern identified by screening in Saskatchewan to date. Other regions with identified cases included Regina, Saskatoon, Far North East, Central West, Central East, South West, South Central and South East. There are currently 89 cases with area of residency pending.

There are now 12 VOCs identified in the adjacent North East.

Regina led the province with 3,513 identified VOCs.

There were 153 new lineage results reported today. Of the 2,305 VOCs with lineages identified by whole genome sequencing in Saskatchewan, 2,277 are B.1.1.1.7 (UK), nine are B.1.351 (SA) and 19 are P.1. (Brazilian).

That’s an increase from the five P.1. variant cases initially reported. That variant isn’t only present in the southwest, where it was initially detected. It has since been identified in the south central, north west and Saskatoon zones.

The Regina zone accounts for 1,580 (or 69 per cent) of the VOC cases with confirmed lineage reported in Saskatchewan.

Métis Nation-Saskatchewan donates Chromebooks to Sask. Rivers

Michael Oleksyn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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Métis Nation-Saskatchewan donates Chromebooks to Sask. Rivers

Recently the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division received a donation of Chromebooks from the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan (MN-S) and has been distributing them over the past two weeks to schools in the division.

Superintendent Jennifer Hingley explained that they were received and then processed before being sent to schools.

“We received 400 Chromebooks from the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan (MN-S). That is a lot. It was a very generous donation,” Hingley explained.

Hingley explained that the division appreciated the thoughtfulness of MN-S thinking about what students need. This will help the division address challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think that was in response to the concern around access to technology for some of our students. This helps us all be able to give students the tools they need to be able to learn and engage in the classroom,” she said.

The Saskatchewan Rivers division has schools located in both the Western Region 1 and Western Region 2 areas of the MN-S

Students who self-declared as Métis will receive the Chromebooks. The MN-S contacted school divisions about the donation in the fall.

“The Métis Nation themselves determined how many Chromebooks they donated to us and they gave us 400 Chromebooks,” she explained.

“But like a lot of places, Chromebooks were a procurement challenge. We have received them now and we are so grateful for the donation, they are in the hands of our students and they are supporting students in their learning,” she said.

Hingley explained that the division appreciated the thoughtfulness of MN-S thinking about what students need.

In a release on their website the division thanked Glen McCallum, MN-S President, Loretta King, Western Region 1 Regional Director and Sherry McLennan, Western Region 2 Regional Director for the generous gift.

A similar donation from the MN-S to the Prince Albert Catholic School Division was previously announced.

USask project to use Cree culture for crime intervention

Michael Oleksyn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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USask project to use Cree culture for crime intervention

A University of Saskatchewan (USask) researcher, Dr. Holly Graham (PhD), has been awarded $2.5 million over five years by Public Safety Canada to implement a crime prevention program using culture as the intervention.

According to Graham, the crime prevention project provides 10 to 19-year-old students and their families on both Little Pine and Poundmaker First Nations an opportunity to connect to their traditional Cree identity. This will include the use of traditional ways to manage conflict resolution.

“It is returning to the Cree traditional worldviews and paradigms away from Western practices and policies to address community safety. Using the Cree culture to manage challenges faced by youth in these communities. So it is a return to Cree cultures, values and beliefs,” Graham, assistant professor in the College of Nursing and USask’s Indigenous Research Chair in Nursing, said.

She said the project was initiated by two Elders—Austin Tootoosis of Poundmaker Cree Nation and the late Jacob Pete from the Little Pine First Nation. They approached her to work with them and apply for the federal grant that would help address a pressing community problem.

“They were interested in working for me because I am a member of the Thunderchild First Nation, my nursing experience and also because I am a registered doctoral psychologist. They both recognized the need to integrate mental health and wellness within this project. They wanted to work with someone that understood the challenges that impact First Nations communities,” she explained.

Both Tootoosis and Pete attended residential school with Graham’s mother, Celia Wapass-Clennell.

The approach is about holistic wellness and included reclaiming indigeneity, supporting the original family structure and bringing people together to create positive outcomes.

The idea of the project came from the communities and was co-created with leadership, kihte-ayak (person of many winters) community members, along with RCMP representation—Sergeant Karen Pelletier, Indigenous Policing Services. Chiefs Wayne Semaginis and Duane Antoine have been vital to nehiyaw wicihitwin (Cree helping Cree).

“Their commitment and leadership reflects the value of this project to their communities. This project is community-driven, which is the gold standard for all community-based research,” Graham said.

Tootoosis and Pete brought community leaders, local police and others together to share and envision what they wanted to happen, said Graham. Such true collaborative and supportive partnerships with authentic relationships to address community needs are a key part of reconciliation, according to Graham.

The intervention will be in both Little Pine and Poundmaker Cree Nation First Nation’s schools which already have cultural programming.

“This project will allow us to hire two elders, one male one female who will work in both schools. The male elder will share the teachings for the young men and the female elder will provide the necessary teachings for the young women. ”

The project’s goal is to support and build community with traditional circles using the restorative justice approach. The restorative approach is part of the crime prevention program that will be taught in schools as well as to teachers and everyone who provides front-line service in the communities. This was one of Pete’s dreams.

“Traditional restorative justice traditionally is about bringing people together to repair the harm, repair the relationships and to discuss the behaviour. It’s about providing support and teaching accountability, how to move forward in a positive way. So it’s a supportive, teachable moment that is inclusive and fosters citizenship,” Graham said.

When an issue or challenge arises, everyone in the youth’s life—parents, relatives, paraprofessionals—come together to share their feelings and perspectives about the event, explore the roots of the behaviour and create a plan to support that young person.

“It allows the opportunity for the youth to have more direct support and contact as well as being taught Cree traditional values within the school system,” Graham said.

At a recent meeting attended by Graham there was consideration for changing the schools to either 60 per cent Cree, 40 per cent English or 100 per cent full Cree immersion schools.

Graham said teaching Cree in schools reinforces culture.

“The Cree language teaches us about our relational accountability, how we are related and what our responsibilities are in that relationship.”

The program will be delivered in the two communities by seven staff—two onsite project co-ordinators, two Elders, two intervention staff (mental health therapists) and an administrator. As well, an off-site part-time administrator will work in Saskatoon to help Graham with program metrics and evaluations.

“What excites me about it is it’s really a chance to reclaim, rebuild Indigenousness … and it’s a chance to bring restorative justice practices that used to be used back into contemporary settings,” Graham said.

An Elder at each school will teach students traditional Cree culture, language, values and beliefs. They will include teachings about wahkotowin, the Cree worldview that we are all related and interconnected with each other, and to mother earth and of all creation; the medicine wheel, whose lessons include the interrelatedness of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual wellness; and the Seven Sacred Grandfather Teachings, a set of teachings for a healthy life. The teachings provide a frame for healthy relationships based on love, respect, bravery, truth, honesty, humility and wisdom.

There also will be weekly group workshops in the schools and communities that address issues such as alternatives to violence, managing emotions, self-regulation, healthy boundaries, conflict management and resolution. These workshops will offer a cultural craft component twice a month.

“The most exciting thing for me in this project is that it’s strength based, that the intervention is culture and that it was co-designed and created from the community through all aspects ( of the project.) The exact title is Cree helping Cree,” she said.

“That to me is what is exciting. It is research in its best form that is meeting the needs of the community and everybody working together toward a common goal,” Graham added.

There is also a monthly Elders’ healing and wellness plan that will feature story-based learning and sharing circles to discuss important issues such as how the justice system has been applied to Indigenous peoples, the ’60s Scoop, residential schools, and intergenerational trauma.

The program, called nehiyaw wicihitwin (Cree helping Cree), will provide youth reaching maturity the opportunity to participate in traditional rites of passage (cultural ceremony). The youth will participate in one hunting and one fishing trip annually—something already offered to Little Pine students. As well, an annual hockey camp and family camp will be held in each community.

Intervention staff will make individual counselling available to students aged 10-19 and their families, with the project team organizing further education events on topics such as bullying, gang prevention, and will bring in motivational speakers per community request.

Graham’s project is one of 40 selected across the country. At the end of five years, Public Safety Canada will assess the effectiveness of the programs and adopt best practices for its youth crime prevention programming.

Scholarship to honour legacy of Victor Thunderchild

Michael Oleksyn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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Scholarship to honour legacy of Victor Thunderchild

The passing of counsellor and teacher Victor Thunderchild last weekend due to COVID-19 has led a group of friends and colleagues at Carlton Comprehensive High School to try to find a way to honour his legacy. On Wednesday a GoFundMe was launched for the Victor Thunderchild Legacy Scholarship which will collect funds in his name to be given to Indigenous students who are pursuing post-secondary education.

After his passing the group discussed ways to honour his legacy according to co-spokesperson Danelle VanSteelandt, who has her name attached to the campaign along with Kelly Klassen. The group has come together as an unofficial board for the scholarship.

“As we were grieving together we talked about (how it would) be nice if we could continue some of this work and what would that look like and came up with the idea of a scholarship,” Van Steelandt said.

“Victor was a champion for First Nations and for these kids furthering their education and sending them on a road to success and being that support person for them.”

“we just wanted to do something good for him and his legacy and people that wanted to reach out and support what he was doing in the school and education,” Klassen added.

“We thought this was a good project to get started.

Thunderchild’s legacy was felt all over Prince Albert Thunderchild was a champion of First Nations education and the Truth and Reconciliation process and his legacy was felt by everyone at Carlton according to VanSteelandt.

Thunderchild’s legacy was felt all over Prince Albert and the province VanSteelandt explained that he was a dancer and a teacher who was also organizing an indigenous youth conference.

“He has this massive personality and he also has this massive connection to our community here and to his community at home and the First Nations community at large in Saskatchewan — not just in Prince Albert,” she explained.

The site for donations is ca.gofundme.com/f/victor-thunderchild-legacy-scholarship.

For those who don’t use gofundme or don’t have the internet, an account exists at Conexus Credit Union under the Victor Thunderchild Legacy Scholarship.

“Anyone can contribute to that account anywhere in Saskatchewan at any Conexus Credit Union if they would like to contribute that way,” Klassen explained.

Thunderchild’s presence is missed, Klassen said. A makeshift memorial was set up Monday and flowers honouring Thunderchild have been collecting inside the building.

“I think we are definitely still in the grieving process, Monday was really difficult for the staff and several students are obviously trying to deal with that loss and him not being in the building. I think time heals but we still miss him in the building, kids are still missing his presence,” Klassen said.

As of print deadline Thursday, the GoFundMe has already raised $5,960 of the $20,000 goal.

“We had a good beginning so far,” Klassen said. “Some very generous people have reached out to help out.”

Prince Albert author a finalist for 2021 CBC Short Story Prize

Michael Oleksyn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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Prince Albert author a finalist for 2021 CBC Short Story Prize

Prince Albert author Brooks McMullin has been selected as one of five finalists for the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize as announced Thursday. McMullin was nominated for his short story Deville at Home.

The shortlist was selected from among 33 selections on the longlist announced last week, the longlist was selected from almost 3,000 English-language submissions.

McMullin was honoured to be selected for the longlist.

“It’s an affirmation that you have a hunch about your writing and you don’t know if it’s good, it must be good in some way if it can reach this …stage,” McMullin told the Herald at the time.

In addition to McMullin, shortlisted stories include Kids in Kindergarten by Corinna Chong (Kelowna, B.C.), Stump by Miranda Morris (Hamilton)●Leaving Moonbeam by Ben Pitfield (Toronto) and Her First Palestinian by Saeed Teebi (Toronto).

A university lecturer of literature and composition, McMullin writes short stories, novels and screenplays. He was a runner up in the annual 2012 CBC Short Story Prize for the Canada Writes Program, with “Pax,” and was a quarter-finalist in 2006 Zoetrope screenwriting contest for feature-length script, Coal War. McMullin was born and raised in Cape Breton.

A team of writers and editors compiled the list. The jury then selects the shortlist and the eventual winner from the readers’ longlisted selections. The 2021 jury is comprised of Soubankham Thammavongsa, Craig Davidson and Lee Maracle.

In the story Wayne Deville is one of five new teachers who begins a teaching job in a northern Alberta town and all of them fail to fit in. Deville, a veteran of duty in Bosnia, the Middle East and Somalia, fails because he has PTSD.

In a release, McMullin explained that he has tutored ex-military college students who have told him stories. Those stories stayed with him and helped to create Deville’s experience.

The concept for the story came from a shelved novel called The New Teachers.

The winner will be announced on April 29.

The winner of the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts , have their work published on CBC Books and will have the opportunity to attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.

Métis Nation-Saskatchewan donates Chromebooks to Prince Albert Catholic School Division

Michael Oleksyn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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Métis Nation-Saskatchewan donates Chromebooks to Prince Albert Catholic School Division

The Prince Albert Catholic School Division has received a number of grants and other money to support a wide array of projects recently including support from the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan (MNS). The board of education was updated on a number of these projects by director of education Lorel Trumier during their regular meeting on Monday.

The division received word last summer that the MNS education department would be sending 204 Chromebook computers as gifts to donate to students who are self-declared Métis. The division officially received the Chromebooks and are in the process of distributing them.

“What’s interesting in this story is we were told that we were going to receive the Chromebooks at the beginning of the year and I think it is an indicator of the time lag in terms of manufacturing the Chromebooks that we only received them recently. Nonetheless our families and our students will be very excited,” Trumier told trustees Monday.

Trumier explained that there are not enough to distribute to every self-declared child. Family names are being entered into a computer generated random draw. Successful recipients will be contacted this week.

“We are just in the process of getting those out to the families and we appreciate the support the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan provided,” she added.

The board of education agreed to pass on their thanks to MNS.

The division was also informed of an allocation of $42,250 by the Government of Saskatchewan to support online and remote French Immersion learning in the division.

“I really would like to credit superintendent Robert Tessier for the work he has done on the application for a funding grant,” Trumier said.

The grant represents the 2020-2021 federal contribution which is 50 per cent of the total cost under the Canada-Saskatchewan Agreement for Minority Language Education and Second Official Language Instruction, a project running from 2019-2020 to 2022-2023. The division will contribute the other 50 per cent for the project.

“We are pleased about it, it means exciting things for our students and our teachers in learning more about how to support French Immersion online learning. It’s particularly important at our high school,” Trumier told the board.

There will also be a grant of $6,900 from the Ministry of Education for associated costs related to Mental Health First Aid Training. This is a one-time grant and the board was informed of it at an earlier meeting as the documentation was recently received. There is also an opportunity to send 12 staff to be trained at Mental Health First Aid-Supporting Youth training events anticipated to occur in the fall of 2021.

On Provincial Budget Day April 6 the division was allocated $20,000 to once again host summer literacy programming out of St. John Community School this year. Frontier College and the Northern Lights School Division will be coordinating the development of literacy kits.

“ It’s exciting for us to do this as it is an extension of our learning opportunities for students in our area to attend such a program. At this time because of COVID we ran Summer Literacy Program slightly different last year than we had any other year. What had happened were literacy kits were provided to students that would fall in the criteria of wanting to participate in summer camp and also who the camp was intended to support,” Trumier told the board.

Tessier and administration will work with the Ministry, Frontier College and Northern Lights School Division to provide this year’s program.

All of the items were received as information by trustees on Monday.

COVID-19 connected to Carlton Comprehensive High School

Michael Oleksyn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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COVID-19 connected to Carlton Comprehensive High School

On Thursday afternoon the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division notified the public that a case of COVID-19 has been connected to an individual or individuals at Carlton Comprehensive High School in Prince Albert.

According to the division, students in two classrooms and the associated staff will be isolating appropriately.

As well, there is no evidence that the cases were acquired or transmitted at school and in person learning will continue for the rest of the school.

Once the division was informed of the positive COVID-19 test results communication was shared with the classrooms/cohorts, the connected staff, as well as with the school community.

The learning program will continue remotely only for those students and staff affected while in-person learning will continue for the rest of the school.

As is the circumstance in all reports of COVID-19 in the division due to privacy concerns, further details of the case will not be shared.

They explained that both the local Medical Health Officer and the provincial Chief Medical Health Officer continue to indicate that because of the protocols in place, schools are safe and are not significant source of transmission.
They explained that we all share the responsibility to minimize the risk of COVID transmission.

“The division deeply appreciates the support that students, parents and community members have demonstrated.”

Prince Albert author longlisted for 2021 CBC Short Story Prize

Michael Oleksyn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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Prince Albert author longlisted for 2021 CBC Short Story Prize

rince Albert author Brooks McMullin has been selected as one of 33 writers across Canada for the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize. McMullin was nominated for his short story Deville at Home.

The longlist was selected from almost 3,000 English-language submissions.

McMullinwas honoured to be selected.

“It’s an affirmation that you have a hunch about your writing and you don’t know if it’s good, it must be good in some way if it can reach this semifinal stage,” McMullin said.

A university lecturer of literature and composition, McMullin writes short stories, novels and screenplays. He was a runner up in the annual 2012 CBC Short Story Prize for the Canada Writes Program, with “Pax,” and was a quarter-finalist in 2006 Zoetrope screenwriting contest for feature-length script, Coal War. McMullin was born and raised in Cape Breton.

A team of writers and editors compiled the list. The jury then selects the shortlist and the eventual winner from the readers’ longlisted selections. The 2021 jury is comprised of Soubankham Thammavongsa, Craig Davidson and Lee Maracle.

In the story Wayne Deville is one of five new teachers who begins a teaching job in a northern Alberta town and all of them fail to fit in. Deville, a veteran of duty in Bosnia, the Middle East and Somalia, fails because he has PTSD.

In a release, McMullin explained that he has tutored ex-military college students who have told him stories. Those stories stayed with him and helped to create Deville’s experience.

The concept for the story came from a shelved novel called The New Teachers. He explained that it came from a chapter he could not find a resolution for.

“That is really needed in a story and that’s what I worked on with the story to find the ending  that I really wanted to use. And when I found the ending I realized it was a complete change.”

McMullin said he is reworking the novel. By putting it aside and working on it again, he said, the story felt fresh. McMullin added that it doesn’t come automatically and the person has to put in work.

“It is like making a song or something,” he said.

“You are playing the same chords on the piano over and over again and then you add something more and then a little bit more. It is kind of like that’s the way the story goes. To me it’s sitting down and just working it… For me it’s just a hard way to find what is going to work,” he explained.

McMullin bought the shelved novel back to life as a short story. Working in a variety of genres allowed the creative process to open up, he said.

“I realize now from writing screenplays that with writing novels you have got to make the thing go. A screenplay is like a page a scene or something, the plot is driven, it just flies, it has got to move and in the same way you are going to lose your readers in a novel if it just doesn’t move and so I guess that’s what the scripts have taught me.”

He explained that he had written a script based on the work as well. It was critiqued by a screenwriting group he was involved in based in Saskatoon.

“I thought  the novel wasn’t very good at all and then I thought if the short story gets some kind of notice than I am going to take another look at the novel . When I brought it down I thought I’d have to redo it from beginning to end again but it wasn’t that way. It kind of surprised me,” McMullin said.

“It just kind of came back. Now I see the shortcomings in  the script and what I have to do in the script I can reference in the novel.”

The shortlist will be announced on April 22 and the winner will be announced on April 29.

The winner of the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts , have their work published on CBC Books and will have the opportunity to attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.

Catholic Division dealing with challenges after provincial budget

Michael Oleksyn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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Catholic Division dealing with challenges after provincial budget

The Prince Albert Catholic School division said its provincial funding allocation has been cut.

The division’s board was given a breakdown Monday of the numbers included in the April 6 budget.

According to numbers provided in a memo, the Prince Albert Catholic School Division operating funding allocation for Sept. 1 to August 31 dropped from $,29,982,000 in 2020-2021 to $29,385,000 in 2021-2022, or $598,000, which equals a two per cent drop year over year.

Director of education Lorel Trumier saw the decrease as meaningful.

“It’s significant in that anytime you have a decrease you are forced to try do the same work with less. We do know that those numbers are driven by enrolment and at this point in this particular school year we did see a reduction of enrolment,” Trumier said.

She explained that enrolment numbers declined for various reasons including families deciding where they wanted to attend school, such as families from the north deciding to remain on reserve instead of returning to urban centres due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She added that those students could choose to return again.

While the province touted the education budget as a $19.2 million funding increase, opposition critics argued that the increase was less than the negotiated salary increase for teachers, meaning that individual school boards would get less.

Trumier, though, said the division appreciated the enrolment-based funding model.

“The funding formula does adjust based on enrolment as of Sept. 30 and we are pleased that the government did return to the model of managing it from that perspective so that it becomes a little more predictable and it is kind of the method we are used to,” Trumier explained.

During her presentation at the meeting, she explained that the funding is based on the same as previous years and administration is still looking at various components of the budget. The Sept. 30 enrolment means that there will be a mid-year adjustment to the grant based on enrolment next school year.

“This is different than what had occurred this year but this year was an anomaly and we will certainly integrate these dollars to a budget to be presented to the board in short stead. We are currently working on that with our senior administration,” she told trustees during the meeting.

Trustee Darryl Sande noted that the Catholic Division is seeing what appears to be the largest impact of any school division in the province and asked if there was recourse. Trumier assured him that they would work with families to ensure that numbers are more accurate for enrolment projections.

“Our trustees are very in tune at managing the information that is coming and obviously the budget was delayed until April 6 and we are just getting it to drafting budget plans for this fall,” Trumier said.

According to Trumier, the concern rises from always having to do more with less with elements like inflation included and the division is always concerned about that. Another factor is what COVID-19 will look like in the future as an impact on education.

“We saw some impacts this year and we were supported with contingency funding and we’re looking at next year. Yes our school division received $367,000 of contingency funding for next year but it does cost money to buy the supplies that we need to maintain our safety protocols,” she said.

The contingency funding must be spent in sanitation, substitute teacher costs, procure PPE and assist schools in ensuring proper supports for students are in place for the fall of 2021.

She added that as a division they want to be able to focus on student learning and achievement.

“We don’t want to worry about the elements that need to keep us safe, those are basic needs so we definitely want to be able to continue the good work that is happening in our schools while maintaining safety measures and reducing the spread,” Trumier said.

“We will be looking at those kinds aspects as we move into the new school year for sure,” she added.

In 2018 the Catholic Division enacted a bylaw where they can determine its own separate school division tax and set education mill rates. The division is required to pass a resolution each year before April 20 to set their own property tax mill rates. At the meeting on Monday the board chose to set their mill rate the same as that of the province. The 2021 provincial mill rate is 1.36 mills for agricultural property, 4.46 for residential property, 6.75 mills for commercial/industrial property and 9.79 mills for resource property.

According to Trumier, the next steps for the division budget will be to present the budget at a meeting in May and have it approved by the board for submission by July 1 to the Ministry of Education.

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