The new Red Crow Community College campus in Standoff, Alta. is now open.
Visitors are welcomed by a steel straight-up headdress on the front lawn, and a mural of a painted buffalo hide in the main atrium of the brand-new Red Crow Community College campus.
“Anybody coming into this building, they’re entering the world of the Blackfoot,” said Dr. Roy Weasel Fat, president of Red Crow Community College. He was part of the 1994 committee that planned to build a brand new campus one day. Weasel Fat said that now, seeing it complete and open is surreal.
“We never gave up on our dream for a new building,” he said.
The college previously operated out of the former St. Mary’s residential school until it burnt down in 2015. Since then, students have attended classes in an adjacent elementary school. Construction started in 2019 for the new building.
Funding for the $48-million project came from three sources; the college, the Blood Tribe Chief and council, and the federal Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.
Lori Van Rooijen, project director, said the community wanted the new building to be infused with Blackfoot culture.
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“To the shape of the building, the entrance being to the east, to the 17 Black foot artists that we hired and commissioned to do pieces to make this really feel like a Blackfoot experience,” she said.
Van Rooijen explained that from an aerial view, the school was built in the shape of an eagle, a significant symbol, with the main atrium being the head and body.
The 100,000-square-foot facility can hold 900 hundred students and 200 staff. Currently, there are about 400 students enrolled. Weasel Fat says the school was built for the future as the population on the Blood Reserve.
The school has its own Blackfoot ceremonial space and all programs offered incorporate Blackfoot knowledge and teachings.
Vernon Young Pine has been a student at Red Crow College for three years. He says the upcoming younger generations will benefit from this campus located in the heart of the Blood Tribe.
“It mixes the new world with my ancestral way and traditions and it’s helping my people learn a lot.”
Weasel Fat said this brand new campus is an integral part of the community as it will help preserve Blackfoot culture for generations to come.
An official opening ceremony is scheduled for Oct. 20.
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