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Metis settlement explains reasons for $12M school not opening

PEAVINE METIS SETTLEMENT — A northern Alberta Metis settlement is trying to explain why a new $12 million school has not opened months after construction was completed.

PEAVINE METIS SETTLEMENT — A northern Alberta Metis settlement is trying to explain why a new $12 million school has not opened months after construction was completed.

Education Minister Dave Hancock recently cited the failure to open the school this fall as one of the reasons he dismissed the local school board.

Hancock said he was outraged that the school built on the Peavine Metis settlement is sitting empty because of a squabble over land titles and utility hook-ups.

Raymond Carifelle, chairman of the Metis settlement, issued a release Wednesday outlining a litany of reasons for not opening the school, including that the playground was not completed.

Carifelle says the Peavine Council is not taking a position on the minister’s decision to remove the Northlands school board.

But he says in a release that the council simply wants to see the school “properly finished and equipped” so students can move in.