Water main break damages newly renovated Francophone community gathering spot

On Wednesday morning, maintenance staff at École Monseigneur de Laval arrived to work with water which flooded the halls and classrooms of the elementary school due to a water main break. The school cancelled classes for the day.

Mélissa Compain has a child in pre-kindergarten at Laval. She says the school was quick in their response and both teachers and students moved to remote learning seamlessly in the wake of the disaster.

“It was quite touching,” she said. “I was driving my child to my mother’s and he said to me, 'Moman, j'étais prêt pour une bonne journée avec mes amis, – ‘Momma, I was ready to have such a good day with my friends.”

The school posting on social media shows photos of the pool of water which had congregated in what is known as the ‘Bistro’ – a common area used as a community space for the ‘fransaskois’ population in Regina which hosted meals, dances and even the Regina Jazz Society on occasion.

“It was completely submerged by the water – like a swimming pool,” said Association Canadienne Francaise de Regina board secretary Lisette Marchildon.

The area was in the middle of a new renovation and had gone largely unused in recent years due to the pandemic.

“We were looking forward to reopening,” said Marchildon. “It’s really important that the community has a chance to get together and this really sets us back a long way.”

“It’s such a special place for [students] because they can experience their French language,” said Compain. “It’s really sad. It likely won’t reopen this summer.”

“It’s not just a school, it’s the community space.”

The school division said in an email up to 12 H-vac trucks and five separate pumps with several feet of hoses were able to clean up the water in the building by the end of the day Wednesday.

“We are still awaiting a report on the cause of the break,” the Conseil des Écoles Fransaskoises said in a statement. “All teams are dedicated to doing everything possible for classes to resume in-person as early as possible.”