French school board seeks city funds
Request for gym funds comes as council begins 2017 budget deliberations
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The francophone school authority has asked the City of Yellowknife for $500,000 to help pay for a larger gym at Ecole Allain St-Cyr.
Yvonne Careen, superintendent of Commission Scolaire Francophone Territoires du Nord-Ouest, has asked city council to provide a $500,000 contribution to the francophone school authority for its gym at Ecole Allain St-Cyr. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo |
Yvonne Careen, superintendent of Commission Scolaire Francophone Territoires du Nord-Ouest, made the request Monday evening at a special city council meeting for councillors to hear requests from the public on the 2017 budget. The GNWT plans to build a gym at the kindergarten to Grade 12 school off Taylor Road to meet the requirements of a 2015 NWT Court of Appeal order.
The GNWT's plan, Careen said, calls for a 404-square-metre gym with a height of seven metres. The size would make it the second smallest school gym in the city, behind the 403-square-metre facility at Ecole J.H. Sissons. The largest is 784 square metres at Weledeh Catholic School.
The francophone authority wants a gym of at least 476 square metres but told the city it would rather see a size of 548 square metres, which is close to the size of Range Lake North School's gym at 522 square metres.
She told council the GNWT has told the commission it is willing to increase the size of the gym if third-party funding can be secured. The GNWT is applying to Heritage Canada for the entire cost of a 474-square-metre gym said Olin Lovely, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment's assistant deputy minister of corporate services.
Careen said if the federal department provides $500,000 as well as the city's contribution, it would be enough to bring the gym up to what the commission calls its ideal size of 548 square metres. This would allow a full-size basketball court and safety zone at the court edge.
That would allow Allain St-Cyr to become "the home of basketball" in the city in partnership with Basketball NWT, which would contribute $50,000, Careen said.
Part of her pitch centred on increasing recreational space in the city.
"The high school students need a gymnasium that is of a size conducive to sports such as volleyball, basketball, badminton and soccer in order for them to be competitive and to be able to host tournaments and sports related activities," Careen said.
She suggested the city could recoup its spending through rental fees at the gym and a home economics classroom. She pointed out the city has previously funded school gyms - including Weledeh's - though that was at a time when there was a dearth of large event space in the city.
Councillors offered little comment on the merits of the proposal. Coun. Adrian Bell asked what happens if Heritage Canada funding doesn't come through.
"We're fairly confident that they will be contributing," Careen said, pointing to previous contributions the department has made through a fund for francophone communities in anglophone Canada.
The territorial government hasn't released a cost estimate for the Allain St-Cyr expansion, but Careen said they've been provided with estimates putting the cost at $7,000 per square metre.
The gym funding request was the largest in terms of cost to come from the public on Monday. Other pitches made to council include moving the Yellowknife Climbing Club wall from its facility in Kam Lake to the lobby of the Fieldhouse at a cost of about $217,000; resurfacing city tennis courts for about $117,000; funding a report detailing city economic and social statistics for $20,000; and $25,000 in funding for support workers to work with children with disabilities at city summer camps.
About two dozen people attended the meeting, some toting tennis rackets in support of the resurfacing request.
No decisions were made about the requests on Monday.
Councillors began deliberating the city budget last night after press time. Discussions were expected to continue this evening starting at 5:30 p.m. in council chambers and streamed on the city's website. Council is scheduled to approve the budget Monday evening.
The draft budget included a 2.55 per cent property tax rate increase to cover a shortfall of $681,800. That increase didn't include any of the projects councillors heard.
