A new high school is underway at Big Stone Cree nation. When completed this new 77,500 sq. ft. facility will feature two Teepees, both inside and outside of the building, and an industrial kitchen for life skills like dressing game meat.
The Bigstone Cree Nation Education Authority began plans to build a Bigstone Cree Nation High School that would prioritize incorporating the Sakaw Cree language and culture into the design. Integrating Cree teachings into the curriculum and the physical space is expected to bring the Nation and students closer to sovereignty and self-determination by raising graduation rates and bringing secondary education to the Nation.
This project also includes:
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14 classrooms
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a woodshop classroom
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an outdoor classroom
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gymnasium with a mezzanine running track and change rooms
To facilitate local involvement in the project, our team partnered with Bigstone Cree Nation leaders and created a list of local vendors in the community called the Local Resource Log. In preparation for construction, Bigstone Cree Nation and the team hosted a job fair, gathering a list of qualified candidates from the Nation, which was passed on to subtrade partners, encouraging them to hire within the community. To date, our subtrades have 8,000 local worker hours on site.
During the planning phase, we committed to 15 per cent of the hourly craftworkers being local Bigstone Cree Nation members; as of December 2023, the team has more than doubled that goal, reaching 32 per cent hours of craftworkers being community members.