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Red Crow Community College Hopes To Rebuild After Arson

The historic college burned down in August 2015.
GoFundMe

An Alberta First Nation is asking the public for donations to rebuild its community college after it was destroyed in a fire.

On Aug. 14, 2015, a fire broke out in the main building of Red Crow Community College on the Blood Reserve in southern Alberta.

The 98-year-old former residential school was destroyed along with computers, audio-visual equipment, books, cultural artifacts and school supplies.

"We were very saddened by the lack of cash donations received thus far after the fire but Red Crow Community College will move forward and rebuild."

The college started a GoFundMe page shortly after, in the hopes of of raising $50,000 to begin to rebuild the school.

The fire caused $10 million in damage, but so far the college has only received about $6,700 in donations, college president Roy Weasel Fat told CBC News.

"We were very saddened by the lack of cash donations received thus far after the fire but Red Crow Community College will move forward and rebuild," Weasel Fat said.

Insp. Joseph Many Fingers with the Blood Tribe Police Service told the Calgary Herald in September the blaze as was being treated as arson.

School has history of successful alumni

Red Crow Community College was the first tribal college in Canada.

Charlene Mountain Horse, chairperson of the school's board of governors, says the school has a history of accomplished alumni.

“The programs out of the Red college… have supported students in obtaining certification as doctors. We have had graduates as lawyers, licensed practical nurses and social workers," Mountain Horse told Global News.

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