TORONTO — Claire Eckert first noticed flames leaping out of the school roof in Pikangikum around 9 o'clock last Friday evening. It was windy that night, and the fire quickly engulfed the entire one-storey clapboard building, forcing her and many other residents of the remote Ojibwa community in Northwestern Ontario to flee their homes.
By the time residents had put out the fire - a feat that depleted the community's entire water supply - there was nothing left but rubble, leaving children attending the reserve's only school with nowhere to go.
"For me, my heartbreak is for my kids, because I know that their joy was to come to school. And now they don't have that joy," said Ms. Eckert, a Grade 3 teacher who moved to Pikangikum from her native Australia last September.
The Eenchokay Birchstick School functioned as a second home for many young people in the community. It was destroyed by arson when two boys, both under 12, set a shed outside the woodworking classroom on fire, an Ontario Provincial Police spokeswoman confirmed.
The loss of the school is just the latest tragedy to hit the community already in mourning over three recent suicides. Two weeks ago, a 12-year-old took her own life. Last Sunday, the girl's 14-year-old brother and his 12-year-old girlfriend also committed suicide.
This was not the first time residents have had to face suicide, but it has never happened in such quick succession, said Dean Peters, director of the Pikangikum Education Authority.
"No one saw it coming," he said.
The community's elders say the deplorable living conditions on the reserve make it a warehouse for social problems. Many of the young people sniff gasoline, a problem that school officials fear could worsen now that they have nowhere to go.
Although many of Canada's aboriginal people live in poverty, Pikangikum stands out. It lacks sufficient housing for its population, which has doubled to 2,300 in the past 20 years. Most of the reserve's 387 houses have no running water or indoor plumbing. And the school, built in 1986 for 250 children, now has 780 attendees, from junior kindergarten to Grade 12.
Stan Beardy, Grand Chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, said Pikangikum is a symbol of what the day of action planned for June 29 is all about. He said native leaders are advising their people not to resort to violent confrontation that day. But he worries that leaders will not be able to contain the frustration and anger simmering below the surface in many young aboriginals, who live in one of the richest countries in the world but have few job prospects.
"We've lost three young people in Pikangikum in the last 10 days," Mr. Beardy said. "When young people start killing themselves, there is real potential that [violence] can flare up."
Everything was lost in the school fire, including school records and exams. But graduation ceremonies will go ahead as planned next week for the children moving on from kindergarten and Grade 8, and the seven students who have completed Grade 12. Mr. Peters said a local church has been rented for the occasion.
At this point, however, it is not clear what will happen next September. Even before the fire, the community needed a new school. The Department of Indian Affairs announced in April that it will provide $18.2-million to build one, but that was to take three years.
Tony Prudori, a spokesman for the Ontario region at Indian Affairs, said the department is looking at accelerating the funding. But school principal Micky Staruck said he fears that the children will end up in portables for several years because there's no way a new school can be built in time for next year's classes.
"If our school burning down still doesn't warrant them to quickly move and build a new school, what will?"