ManitobaBells rang out for the first time on Thursday at a new French immersion school in Winnipeg’s Sage Creek neighbourhood — a school so new it doesn’t have its official name yet.School to receive new name inspired by legacy of Murray Sinclair at November ceremony, principal saysCBC News · Posted: Sep 04, 2025 1:37 PM EDT | Last Updated: 12 hours agoA new school in Winnipeg’s Sage Creek neighbourhood welcomes students for the first time on Thursday. (Harold Kouton/Radio-Canada)Bells rang out for the first time on Thursday at a new French immersion school in Winnipeg’s Sage Creek neighbourhood — a school so new it doesn’t have its official name yet. Principal Cam Johnson said the Louis Riel School Division is using the placeholder name École Sage Creek Bonavista, representing the two southeast communities served by the new school. In November, it will get a name inspired by Murray Sinclair, the Anishinaabe senator and renowned Manitoba lawyer and judge who led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He died on Nov. 4, 2024, at the age of 73.Johnson said a survey to help name the school was sent out to staff, parents and children in the community in January, with many respondents feeling strongly that Sinclair should be honoured. “The name of the school will be inspired by him,” Johnson said, telling CBC News the chosen name will reflect Sinclair’s legacy and spirit name — Mazina Giizhik or “the One Who Speaks of Pictures in the Sky.”The school division is working with the family to arrange the naming ceremony in November, a year after Sinclair’s death, Johnson said.The new school will be given a name inspired by Murray Sinclair at a ceremony in November. (Submitted by Murray Sinclair)”All that he represented and that he did … we want to see a lot of those values and initiatives,” he said. The new Des Hivernants Boulevard school welcomed 815 French immersion students from kindergarten to Grade 8 — a big school with a total of 80 staff members, Johnson said. The school division received approval for the 900-student-capacity building in May 2022, with construction breaking ground in 2023. Construction was finished this summer, just in time for back-to-school. Parent Fatma Abdalla’s daughter is starting Grade 2 at the school and her son is in kindergarten. She said the new school is beautiful and much closer than her kids’ old school. “We’re just excited to start in the new school,” Abdalla said. “Everybody likes new things.”Silas Lanirande told CBC News he was excited to be going into Grade 4 at the newly built school. “I’ve never really experienced that, like a new, new school,” Lanirande said. “It’s such a beautiful space,” his mother Melanie Martel said. “These boys are so lucky to be a part of this and the community as well.” She said Sage Creek has long needed a new school to serve the growing community. “We’ve waited a while for this, so I think everybody is thankful and grateful for the space,” Martel said.New Sage Creek school welcomes studentsThe first batch of students is heading to a new school in Winnipeg’s Sage Creek neighbourhood. École Sage Creek Bonavista is a French immersion Kindergarten to Grade 8 school on Des Hivernants Boulevard with 815 students and 80 teachers. With files from Meaghan Ketcheson and Graham Sceviour-Fraehlich
New Winnipeg French immersion school welcomes students in Sage Creek neighbourhood
