Mayor defends move

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HIGH PRAIRIE - Grouard residents should be minimally involved in the running of the Alberta Vocational Centre "that just happens to be located next door to the hamlet," says AVC president Fred Dumont, who is also the mayor of High Prairie.

Dumont was responding to a question about criticisms and fears that Grouard residents have regarding the transfer of 50 proposed student/family housing units and several extension courses to High Prairie.

Villagers feel the move will spell Grouard's economic demise, and that they should have been consulted in the decision-making process.

Dumont maintains he did consult with people "on an individual basis through letters and surveys."

But Jeff Chalifoux, Zone 5 director of the Metis Association of Alberta, and a member of the Presidents Advisory Committee on Centre Affairs, (PACCA), says "he gave us no indication they were going to move housing."

Dumont adds that "education dollars could not be used to prop up communities for economic reasons," something he says he has been told by his own minister.

He says the proposed move is "part of the multi-campus approach, which has been adopted since 1980.

"As an educator, I see the need for a multi-campus system as opposed to what happened in Lac La Biche where they centered everything in one spot."

"In a multi-campus approach, Grouard will maintain its identity as a speciality campus for forestry, Native cultural arts, job readiness and basic education."

Asked if moving the housing units and houses to High Prairie would be contrary to the AVC mandate of education for underprivileged Natives, Dumont replied, "It's not expected we can serve them any better in High Prairie than in Grouard."

He says there would be large numbers of Natives and their families who would benefit from the move to High Prairie as there would if and when courses were to move to MacLellan or Valleyview, towns near Grouard with large Native populations.