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IQALUIT
One of Apex's oldest buildings and the subject of a previous arson attempt, the former Apex Hill federal day school was destroyed by fire Oct. 4.

The old Apex Hill federal day school is now a pile of charred wood after a fire Oct. 4. - Casey Lessard/NNSL photo

“It's pretty sad, that was my first reaction,” said lifelong Apex resident Jacopoosie Peter, who attended kindergarten and a year of pre-reading at the school starting in 1968. “It's become a landmark for me personally, and it's not there anymore.”

Iqaluit's director of emergency and protective services, Chris Wilson, said the fire department and the RCMP are investigating the fire's cause. While not explicitly saying arson was the cause, Wilson appeared to rule out any other possibilities.

“The building had no power, no mechanical systems in operation, and therefore no heat, and we've not been aware of anything stored in there that was flammable and spontaneously combustible,” he said.

The fire department was called to the scene at 11 a.m. and found the old two-room schoolhouse next to Nanook School fully engulfed.

“We proceeded to knock down the fire, and it breached the attic space, breached the roof,” Wilson said. “We've used excavators to open up the walls and some of the walls came down on their own. We're now in a mop-up process.”

One of the first buildings you spot when arriving in Apex, Peter said it was part of the scenery.

A ban on Inuktitut in the school was lifted before Peter attended, so unlike others, he said he has no negative memories of the school. His favourite memory was “recess time,” he said. “At that time, older kids took care of the younger kids a lot more than they do today.”

After his time at Apex Hill, he attended the school across from the building, which burned down in the early 1990s. His first government job was also in the school, where he was a trainee with the District Education Authority when the school was a resource centre before it was closed.

Peter Baril fought for years to save the vacant building, which was among four buildings built in the mid-1950s as part of a rehab centre, to turn it into a museum and arts centre, he wrote on his blog. The building was frequently vandalized and survived an earlier arson attempt, he said.

When hearing news of the fire, Baril went to the scene to share his thoughts with Wilson.

“I told him, if you can do a controlled burn and ensure that nothing around gets hurt, go ahead and let the thing go,” he said.

No one was in the building, Wilson said. School was in session next door at Nanook School, and students were sent home. All students were accounted for, Wilson added.

“We'll have to adjust to the empty space,” Jacopoosie Peter said. “Not everything can last here forever. We all know that.”

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