The Honourable Brad Wall
Premier of Saskatchewan
226 Legislative Building
Regina SK S4S 0B3
Dear Premier Brad Wall:
I am a Cathedral Area resident with two children who attend Ecole Connaught Community School. The Cathedral Area is a well-known and enviable community that values our heritage buildings which are a part of our culture, and we have the right to be able to retain them. The school has been the corner stone of our community for over one hundred years and deserves to be treated with more respect than it’s been given of late.
Recently, the Regina Public School Board put forward a proposal to the Ministry of Education that recommends that a new Connaught be built which is in conflict with the community consultations that were done last spring and many of us in the community are upset.
I am writing to ask that the Government of Saskatchewan listen to the wishes of the community and have a recognized heritage structural engineering firm do a thorough examination of Connaught school and provide a detailed report to the Government and School Community Council, as well as the Save Our Connaught committee. Further to that request, I would ask that the Government make sure that the aforementioned engineering firm be independent of the entire process and not be allowed to bid on the forthcoming Request for Proposal that will be posted to secure a builder for the project.
As a member of the Ecole Connaught Community Council, I believe that the Council deserves to receive a comprehensive list of all of the items that need to be upgraded within Connaught along with realistic estimates of the cost of each item. There was no transparency in previous estimate. What we have been presented with is a wild “guesstimate” of what it might cost to renovate the property which was done by one engineering firm who is unfamiliar with heritage reconstruction. How can one estimate that a rebuild will cost more than a renovation if there have been no facts presented?
We have no idea of the actual extent of the renovation that was proposed, but it appears from the estimate that 4,000 square meters were included in demolition for the renovation. Premier Wall, please tell me what kind of renovation guts all but 452 square meters of a building? In my mind, that is not a renovation!
It is my hope that you personally take the time to read and respond to the letters you receive from our community; that you listen to our concerns and swiftly act on our requests. Our children need to know that our past helps to shape who we are today and that heritage matters. Our community deserves a respectful renovation of Ecole Connaught Community School because we believe that renovation is “better than new” and I believe that it is the dedicated teachers, and not fancy new school designs, that educate our children.
Sincerely,
Amy Petrovitch
Save Our Connaught 