When he received a copy of a CUPE Saskatchewan news release dated April 9, 2025, School Division Northern Lights School Division Education Director, Jason Young was a little surprised.
The CUPE news release outlined possible consequences for “Indigenous students in Saskatchewan,” as a result of cuts possible “changes to Jordan’s Principle funding” for Northern Lights School Division.
Young reviewed the Division’s Jordan’s Principle involvement with the Division’s involvement with Jordan’s Principle and found it did not match the new release information.
“That news release is going to be removed, taken back. It’s a misprint,” Young said in an interview with the Prince Albert Daily Herald.
According to the news release, “over 100 workers are potentially facing layoffs after last week’s announcement by the school division that lack of federal funding had left a $7 million shortfall in their budget, and that they will be scaling back services for over 280 students.” Young said that isn’t the case.
“When I saw this, I thought, I must have missed a memo somewhere … we don’t have 100 employees that are Jordan’s Principal funding … we have 10 employees that are Jordan’s Principal funding and even if that funding was cut, we would just absorb them into our own math,” Young said.
In a follow-up press release, CUPE said they mistook Northern Lights School District in Saskatchewan for a school division of the same name in Alberta. CUPE said they “sincerely apologize for any confusion” their press release caused.
