Provincial government approves funding to plan new Paddle Prairie School

By Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 

(ANNews) – Northland School Division is in the early stages of replacing the more than 50-year-old Paddle Prairie School after the provincial government approved funding for its planning stage. 

Division board chair Tanya Fayant told Alberta Native News that a new Paddle Prairie School has “been a priority for Northland for a number of years.” 

The Peace River-based public school board’s 2025-2028 capital plan identifies a replacement Paddle Prairie School as its number one capital priority. According to the plan, enrollment at the K-12 school on Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement increased from 114 students in 2019 to 126 students in 2023, representing a 10.5 per cent increase, although enrollment is expected to remain stable over the next decade. 

Northland superintendent Cal Johnson told Alberta Native News that the existing school “no longer has space for several important program areas that we want to incorporate,” including collegiate programming and partnerships with potential future employers.  

“Connections that support Truth and Reconciliation are really important to our division as one of our priorities, and a modern facility will allow us to support language programming, cultural programming, and land-based learning, all things that are front and center for Northland School Division,” Johnson added.

Ninety-five per cent of the Northland School Division’s approximately 1,700 students across 18 communities are Indigenous. 

Northland received a 2025 award from the Public School Boards Association for advancing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, including by promoting Indigenous languages, offering cultural training to staff, and closely collaborating with Elders and knowledge keepers.

“Having a new facility will allow us to incorporate our community into the school better,” said Johnson. 

A 2018 school condition report from Northland School Division noted that the school’s paving is in “poor condition” and that the building site’s “high water table” has resulted in the ground moving upwards, known as heaving. Additionally, its “heating and air handling systems are deemed to be beyond service life expectancy,” the report notes.

The school has had several renovations since 2018. A portable career technology studies lab and security cameras were installed, the gym floor was refinished, and the school’s exterior concrete and power generator were repaired.

At this point in the process of building a new school, key details remain unknown. “We’re at the very initial stages of the build,” Johnson told this newspaper. 

Northland’s capital plan estimates the school’s capital cost to be $10.7 million, but Johnson emphasized that the full cost will be determined after the design phase, which is the next step in the process. 

It’s also too early to say when the new school might open. 

“We’re going to try to, of course, move the project forward as quickly as possible,” said Johnson. “We’re really excited to have a new school in Paddle Prairie, so whatever we can do to expedite the process, we will do.”

Fayant credited the leadership of Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement with “speaking to the importance of this project for students and families in the settlement,” and Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams, who represents Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement as the MLA for Peace River, “for listening and supporting this request.”