STC Chief says U of S scrapped plans for Indigenous student housing on campus  

WATCH: After months of delay, the University of Saskatchewan says it’s moving ahead with the demolition on the Lutheran Seminary Building on campus.

Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC) Chief Mark Arcand says he is disappointed after the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) denied the organization’s proposal to turn the abandoned Lutheran Seminary on campus into Indigenous student housing.

“This is the second time we have been rejected to focus on Indigenous people, to be living on campus under, you know, being led to support that, so it’s heartbreaking,” he said Thursday, talking to reporters.

As part of the university’s plans to demolish the former Lutheran Seminary, the university opened up discussions for potential buyers.

The STC was one of five groups to present an expression of interest, and Arcand says they had $2 million in grant funding and a number of partners to help turn the abandoned buildings into a form of student housing for Indigenous people.

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Arcand says there would’ve been 55 beds on the site that would also have featured wrap-around services like the Emergency Wellness Centre.

He says an architect the STC hired estimated the site would need more than $20 million in work.

However, the U of S says it would have needed an offer of $26 million to start, with $55-$60 million a more likely investment to renovate and restore the building.

On April 16, the U of S announced that plans to demolish two historic buildings on campus grounds would move forward.

The university said its board of governors had decided to tear down two unused buildings - located at 113 and 114 Seminary Crescent - due to safety and security risks.

According to U of S, the 114 Seminary Crescent property has been owned by the Lutheran Theological Seminary (LTS) since 1967 but has been unoccupied for the past five years.