Site chosen for new Whitehorse Elementary School building

The Yukon government has chosen the site where the new École Whitehorse Elementary School will be built in the city's Takhini neighbourhood.

The new facility — which will replace the aging Whitehorse Elementary School building that's downtown — will go on the northwest corner of the Takhini Educational Land Reserve, near Range Road and University Drive. There are softball fields on that site now.  

The new Whitehorse Elementary, a kindergarten-to-Grade 7 French immersion school, will be adjacent to Takhini Elementary School, and the territorial government says the two schools will share a multi-use sports field.

Education Minister Jeanie McLean said at a news conference on Tuesday the site was selected "because it best meets the need of both the school and the surrounding community."

She cited the shared sports field, traffic management and "minimal disruption to the existing operations of neighbouring schools" as some of the main benefits of the chosen site.

The territorial government announced plans for a new Whitehorse Elementary School two years ago, and said it would be built in Takhini. Tuesday's announcement specifies the exact location within the 16-acre education reserve there.

The existing Whitehorse Elementary was built in 1950 and the government has said it tops the list of several schools in the territory due for major renovations or replacement. The territory said in 2022 that renovating the existing Whitehorse Elementary would be about 1.4 times more expensive than building a new one.

McLean said Tuesday that her Liberal government "inherited a deficit" when it came to upgrading or building schools.

"We recognize that we have a lot of work to do to bring all of our schools up to the standards that we want to have for all of our children in the Yukon," McLean said on Tuesday.

"We are absolutely in a state of catching up to where it should be."

There is no timeline yet for when construction might begin on the new Whitehorse Elementary, or when it might open. Public Works Minister Nils Clarke said in 2022 that work would begin after construction was complete on the new Whistle Bend Elementary School, which happened earlier this year. 

The Whistle Bend school cost $42.8 million. Clarke said in 2022 that the new Whitehorse Elementary would likely have a similar price tag, depending on inflation or other factors. 

The new school will eliminate two softball fields currently used by Softball Yukon. The government said in a news release that it's working with the organization to "identify solutions that will enable the organization to continue offering valuable sports opportunities to its nearly 2,000 members." 

Gov't committed to a downtown school, minister says

The announcement two years ago about demolishing the aging Whitehorse Elementary School downtown and building a new one elsewhere proved controversial. Parents, opposition politicians and the city all spoke out, saying the move would leave the city with no public elementary school in the downtown area.

NDP MLA Lane Tredger has said having a downtown school is about making the downtown "livable for everyone."

"That includes children. And that means a school," Tredger said earlier this year.

Whitehorse city council passed a motion about it last spring. The motion did not specifically mention keeping the existing École Whitehorse Elementary School open, and instead urged the territorial government to simply "ensure that there continues to be an elementary school in downtown Whitehorse."

Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn then threw the ball into the city's court by asking it to find a suitable spot in the downtown core "so that future planning for a downtown school can occur."

McLean confirmed on Tuesday that the government is moving in that direction, though she provided no details. 

"We also believe that schools are the heart of our community ... I want Yukoners to know that a downtown school is part of the Liberal government's vision for a strong, healthy and vibrant capital city," McLean said.