Student housing pending at Grouard

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Accommodation for married students at the Alberta Vocational Centre (AVC) in Grouard will be built near the institution itself ? not in High Prairie.

This long-awaited outcome, which mainly affects Native students, follows a protest from a year ago May. Local residents view the choice as a major coup which will help keep the community united and intact.

Local residents had protested an initial decision, in May of 1986, to have the structures built at High Prairie. They charged AVC president Fred Dumont with having a conflict of interest because he is also the mayor for High Prairie.

At that time, Jeff Chalifoux, the Zone 5 board member for the Metis Association, took Dumont and local MLA Larry Shaben to task over the issue. Chalifoux, along with a number of Metis and Indian supporters, felt that the initial location at High Prairie was nothing more than a ploy to raise the profile of the town at the expense of the Grouard community.

The Grouard community, he argued, was in the greatest need for the facilities and would benefit more directly is the units were located there.

In a March 1986 letter, Shaben acknowledged the problems that Native students face when living in an urban setting. This would have been the case had the decision gone to High Prairie. "It just doesn't work," Shaben finally admitted. He agreed that students often drop out under such circumstances.

AT a June 1986 meeting in Edmonton, a freeze was invoked as to where the units would be built. A final decision was delayed until the recommendations of a special advisory committee had the opportunity to explore the matter more fully. That committee was represented by Advanced Education, Municipal Affairs, the Metis Association and the Indian Association, as well as local residents from the Grouard community.

In a recent interview with Windspeaker, the assistant to the minister for Advanced Education, Tom McLaren, said that the choice to go with Grouard was "primarily a result of the working committee. It was a toss-up earlier on whether it was going to be Grouard or High Prairie."

"The spouses would prefer to be in High Prairie, even though the students might prefer to be in Grouard" for work reasons, explained McLaren, indicating both locations had their strengths and weaknesses.

Conversely, community members were concerned with transportation problems and social implications that would confront students in an urban environment.

AS well, there was keen interest on the part of Grouard residents to maintain a community atmosphere by having local units built.

AT this time, McLaren is not certain about what kind of accommodation will be built or when the units will be completed. It is known that construction is scheduled to commence in early 1988 at a projected cost of $2.5 million.

When quested about continued participation in the decision-making process at the community level, McLaren said, "There's going to be a minister's advisory committee formed on education in the north because there's different service levels; different communities are served by different institutions and the distribution of services is not even."

McLaren explained that the focus will be on the north as far as Advanced Education is concerned, even though Native people are scattered throughout the province. "We're not looking at it as a Native issue; it's a northern issue in this case," he stated. He added that this is not intended to diminish, neglect or ignor Native education needs in other areas of the province.

AVC president Dumont was unavailable for comment.

Grouard is situated approximately 20 miles from High Prairie.