Almost History - I

The Sir Alexander MacKenzie school was! one of the most significant buildings in Inuvik and gave the center of Inuvik it's own view. Yes, it was!

When we arrived in Inuvik, we were surprised to find this impressive building in a bad shape. All walls have already be removed giving a strange view into the number of class rooms. Some of them looked as if still all inventory is present and classes may start at all time. However, the school was obviously closed and something should happen to the building either renovating or turning it down. A new school was already build some years ago not far away behind the North Market. 

Nothing happened during the first days, but then suddenly on one morning walking to the Aurora institute three big excavators stand in front of the school. Little later they started their work... Just tier it down. The workers must have had a lot of fun. The wooden walls were easy to break with the heavy machines. After an hour already big parts of the long stretched building were on ground level. Local citizens watched this spectacle, so did we. In the afternoon the show was over and a big heap of rubble remained on the site. 

For us it was a little sad to see the view of Inuvik change so dramatically. But later we learned that not all locals ware sad. This is due to the history of the MacKenzie school. Build in 1959 the school is a symbol for the compulsory integration of the first nations (the various aboriginal peoples in Canada) into the western society what meant also learning English, etc.