SaskatoonSaskatoon’s rebuilt Awâsisak kâ-nîmîhtocik St. Francis Cree Bilingual School will welcome around 600 students on Sept. 2, placing an emphasis on traditional Indigenous teachings.Awâsisak kâ-nîmîhtocik St. Francis Cree Bilingual School places emphasis on cultural teachings, officials sayHalyna Mihalik · CBC News · Posted: Aug 27, 2025 9:02 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours agoThe new Seventh Street E. location for Saskatoon’s Awâsisak kâ-nîmîhtocik St. Francis Cree Bilingual School is set to open on Sept. 2. (Halyna Mihalik/CBC)Saskatoon’s Awâsisak kâ-nîmîhtocik St. Francis Cree Bilingual School is getting ready to welcome close to 600 students through the doors of its new building for the upcoming school year.The bilingual school is reopening on Sept. 2 at its new Seventh Street E. location, after moving from its McPherson Avenue space, which became too small to handle its enrolment numbers.The immersion school was also renamed last year to include the Cree name, pronounced “a-wah-sih-suk gha-knee-meet-oh-chik,” which means “children who dance.”The new building design was inspired by the flow of the northern lights, according to Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools.The new school places an emphasis on an open-classroom design, a school official says. (Halyna Mihalik/CBC)Elders were consulted throughout the progress of the $48-million project, from the architectural choices made to the materials used, the school division says.”The consultation process with community and elders was really more about listening than talking, and hearing what their vision for these spaces were,” said Ryan Martin, an assistant superintendent of facility services with the division.”From there, we were able to work with our consulting team and contractors to bring the spaces to life.”1-of-a-kind Indigenous classroom spacesThe school places an emphasis on Indigenous teaching and cultural spaces for students, officials said.This includes a kitchen space large enough to feed 600 students several times a day and to prepare feasts in. Those feasts will be hosted in what the division says is now the biggest elementary school gym in the city.The new school’s gym will be the largest elementary school gym in the city, suitable for holding feasts and ceremonies, officials say. (Halyna Mihalik/CBC)There’s also a wellness centre for Indigenous students who may face barriers in accessing outside health care. It places an emphasis on holistic Indigenous health practices, according to Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools.The wellness space will be run by nursing students from the University of Saskatchewan. The school is also hoping to provide access to physiotherapists, optometrists and nutritionists. The school’s cultural classrooms are what sets it apart, Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools superintendent Kelley Cardinal said during a Wednesday tour of the new building.Many spaces are one-of-a-kind in the city, she said, like a medicine lab that’s designed to teach students about traditional hunting etiquette.Students will have access to a classroom dedicated to learning about gardening and nature. (Halyna Mihalik/CBC)”If you go in there, you’ll see a game hook hanging from the ceiling, a garage door that can open up so you can drive your truck right up and drop off a deer and students can hang it, process it, learn about what that means,” said Cardinal.Children who want to explore their green thumb can attend classes in the greenhouse room. Early’s Farm and Garden Centre provided $10,000 to help furnish the classroom.There’s also a room fully equipped with sewing machines for creating traditional regalia, such as beadwork and ribbon skirts.A sewing room at the new school. Students will be able to learn about sewing traditional regalia and the art of beadwork. (Halyna Mihalik/CBC)Classrooms are laid out in an open-design style, suitable for round-circle discussions between students and teachers, said Cardinal.”The pedagogy and the way that they’ll be taught is going to be unique in that the teachers will work together in a pod-style learning,” she said. “Gone are the days when a student goes in and sits in a perfect little row and has the teacher at the front. You now have a community of teachers, so three of them working together to teach you in different ways.”Cardinal said children will also attend mass and take religion classes, all while being immersed in Indigenous culture, with numerous smudging spaces, a teepee and work by Indigenous artists adorning almost every wall in the school.The redesigned pre-kindergarten to Grade 9 school has been in the works for the last 10 years. There are still a few finishing touches to be completed as the school year begins, the school division said.An outdoor powwow space to host ceremonies is in the process of being built, but it’s expected to be complete before winter.ABOUT THE AUTHORHalyna Mihalik is a journalist and weather specialist for CBC Saskatchewan. She holds a degree in journalism from the University of Regina. Halyna enjoys stories about advocacy, local politics and rural communities. Send Halyna news tips at halyna.mihalik@cbc.ca
New building for Saskatoon’s Cree bilingual school set to open its doors to students
