Louis Riel School Division bidding on rural property to develop land-based learning site, serve other purposes

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This article was published 20/02/2025 (279 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

St. Vital’s school board is eyeing a plot of land south of the Perimeter Highway to develop a land-based learning site and house its maintenance, operations and transportation facilities.

Senior administrators in the Louis Riel School Division received authorization to bid on a rural property and seek government approval to borrow up to $10 million for related construction Tuesday.

Superintendent Christian Michalik was reluctant to disclose the exact address, citing early negotiations with the owner of an eight-acre lot that he said is ideal because of its location within LRSD borders, multiple turn-key buildings and affordable price.

A public listing of 3280 St. Mary’s Rd., currently home to Veert Landscaping, fits that description. The site spans 8.2 acres and features three industrial buildings. It is listed for $2.95 million.

If all goes according to plan, Michalik said LRSD will join a growing list of local school divisions operating field trip sites that foster environmental stewardship and Indigenous ways of learning.

“A significant portion of the land would be used to create a space for Indigenous land-based education; the idea would be to reclaim the land that is there as an Indigenous environment, as a Prairie environment, restoring it to its natural state,” the division leader said.

Michalik noted he was inspired by the Seven Oaks School Division’s land-based learning model and plans to get pointers from colleagues at the Aki Centre.

Seven Oaks opened the centre in West St. Paul, where students and other visitors participate in medicine-picking, storytelling and restoration work to return the over-farmed plot to its tallgrass prairie and wetland origins, in 2019.

“When thinking of the most urgent, pressing issues as a society — the climate, our relationship to the natural world — it’s self-evident to me that learning on the land, from the land is essential,” Michalik said, adding that should be at the heart of science and social studies lessons.

For him, this purchase is also an opportunity to build a restorative and therapeutic space for students. Community members typically travel to Birds Hill Provincial Park to learn about local ecosystems and participate in cultural education via LRSD.

Manitoba Education is in the early stages of developing a curriculum framework for Indigenous land-based learning. The project — which a government spokesperson said will promote learning from the land rather than simply education in an outdoor setting — will expand on hyperlocal projects in Seven Oaks and surrounding communities.

During a public board meeting on Tuesday, LRSD trustees unanimously approved two motions to lay the foundation for an outdoor education hub in south Winnipeg.

Chief financial officer Jamie Rudnicki told the meeting that division leaders have been searching for a solution to address an overcrowded transportation facility dubbed “Maginot Shops” for the better part of the last decade.

Rudnicki is proposing LRSD relocate its school bus fleet at 901 Maginot St. and overflow sites, as well as the existing maintenance and operations department based out of 50 Monterey Rd.

The multi-pronged blueprint involves purchasing and transforming a new property, upgrading the Monterey Road campus to bolster clinical and therapeutic services for students and installing an elevator inside LRSD’s main board office on St. Mary’s Road.

Ryan Palmquist, who represents families in Ward 3 (South St. Vital and River Park South), told meeting attendees it was “an excellent opportunity” and he is hopeful the project will move forward.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca