Waterhen Lake First Nation’s chief said residents are devastated after the community’s school was destroyed in a fire Tuesday.
“It is truly unbelievable that the school many of us were in yesterday congratulating all of our 2024 graduates is gone,” Chief Blaine Fiddler said in a release.
Fiddler said fire crews are still doing their best to completely extinguish the flames but expects nothing can be salvaged.
He said he recognizes how important the school was to the community.
“What is not lost is the strength of our community and all the people who make Waterhen our home,” he said. “The theme for the graduating class this year was ahkamêyimok — we will preserve. I cannot think of anything more fitting to reflect upon as we move forward with rebuilding such an integral part of our community.”
Natasha Aubichon, Waterhen Lake First Nation resident said the building was the “heart of the community.”
“It wasn’t just for school,” she said. “We used it for community events as well.”
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Outside of education, the school was used for dances, feasts and funerals.
Aubichon said this is the most devasting fire she can remember and that the building held a lot of memories.
“It had a lot of firsts for most of us,” she said. “We met our first best friends at that school, had our first favourite teachers, our first sweethearts, our first dances and learned how to do our first prayer in Cree there.”
She said the building held a lot of “lasts” with passed on loved ones as well.
“We did hold funerals in the gymnasium and so sometimes that’s a place where we would see our loved ones for the last time before the casket closed,” Aubichon said. “It feels like those memories burned down with the building because we can no longer walk the halls.”
Fiddler said the community of Waterhen Lake First Nation has the support of the FSIN and Meadow Lake Tribal Council during this time.
Chief and council thanked school staff and community members who helped ensure the building was empty of students and fire crews trying to save the school.
There is a precautionary drinking water advisory for the First Nation until further notice.
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