Friday is a day of bittersweet emotions in the northern community of La Loche.
The village is celebrating new renovations to its high school but it is also mourning a tragic shooting that took place there three years ago.
Jason Young is the director of education for the Northern Lights School Division.
“I think there’ll be a wide range of emotions,” he says. “I was there in the initial aftermath of the event, as well, and it was certainly full of emotions, definitely. And I think this will be no different as we remember what had happened at that time.”
A total of four people were killed and seven others injured in the shooting, which took place at the school and a residence in the village.
In the years that have followed, the NLSD education director says the healing journey for the community certainly continues but is a long process.
“I think this grand reopening ceremony will be a step in the right direction to sort of take away all the reminders, or at least some of the reminders, of what happened that day and allow us to move forward as best we can. But it’s a slow process and it takes time.”
New renovations to the La Loche Dene High School include upgrades to the front office area and new office space for a mental wellness coordinator and other public health employees.
Young says the renovations to the school cost over $2 million.
The event includes a plaque presentation, ribbon cutting, moment of silence and poetry reading.
(PHOTO: La Loche Dene High School. File photo.)