A Trip To Winnipeg For Some Vermilion Children

Back in October 1933, a group of children were about to take a trip to Winnipeg to attend a new school that was built.

The children, Leona Brett, Slawka Makohonyk, Olga Kuluk, Donna Eva, and John and Katie Kuznurich were all deaf. Their destination was the Winnipeg School for the Deaf.

Four of the children were orphans, while the other children were had parents in the area.

Typically when a child went off to school somewhere, it didn’t get much notice in town.

This was to be different.

Mayor Fallow and several members of town council held a reception for the children before they departed. The local dignitaries each spoke and gave words of encouragement for the children and the schooling they were about to receive.

Many felt that since the local school of agriculture had recently closed, it should have been turned into a school for the deaf to help accommodate many in the area. Since these children had to go two provinces over for schooling, it was felt there was an opportunity to keep them and others who were also deaf in Alberta, much closer to home.

Premier Brownlee and several members of his cabinet were in favour of this, but due to the costs associated with it and The Great Depression, it was not an easy thing to implement.

Unfortunately, the School for the Deaf in Vermilion never happened and the children prepared for their journey far from home.

As for the children, they ventured to a new home in a new province where they would receive an education.

Those in Vermilion gave a great send off, and then went on with things in the hopes that one day, the empty School of Agriculture could be put to good use once again.

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