Hon. Lisa Beare
Minister of Education and Child Care
Parliament Buildings
Victoria B.C., V8V 1X4

Sent via email: ECC.Minister@gov.bc.ca

cc: Brad West - Mayor, Port Coquitlam (westb@portcoquitlam.ca), Hon. Mike Farnworth, MLA - Port Coquitlam (minister.MOTI@gov.bc.ca)

Good afternoon Honourable Member Beare,

I am writing to you to ask for a decision regarding the rebuilding of Hazel Trembath Elementary school in Port Coquitlam.

As you may be aware, Hazel Trembath was destroyed in a suspicious fire in the early hours of October 14 2023. Since this fire, there have been discussions about this elementary school’s future, ranging from rebuilding it and having students return, to not rebuilding it and dispersing its students to other schools in southern Port Coquitlam.

Immediately after the fire, representatives from School District 43 and civic officials held meetings to update the parents regarding the immediate plan for resuming education for Hazel Trembath’s students and that the school would be rebuilt, with school board chair Michael Thomas publicly stating “We will Rebuild” (see https://www.tricitynews.com/local-news/we-will-rebuild-sd43-board-chair-says-after-fire-levels-hazel-trembath-elementary-7690304). And as recently as September 4th 2024, Premier David Eby stated to the Tri-City News that his government is committed to rebuild Hazel Trembath at the current site at 1278 Confederation Drive in Port Coquitlam. At every meeting, the commitment was made by the school district and City of Port Coquitlam that everything would be done to rebuild Hazel Trembath, and that not doing also was simply not an option.

As required by the Ministry of Education, representatives from School District 43 have submitted a solid business case for the rebuild of Hazel Trembath, as well as other options to be considered including a pre-fab construction or building additions to existing area schools and dispersing the Hazel Trembath kids amongst those schools. I believe that was submitted in June of 2024. It has been 8 months since then, almost 16 months since the school was destroyed and almost 3 months since the last provincial election, and our community still has not received any information or confirmation that it will be rebuilt.

The community is not requesting an additional school, simply a facility to replace the one that was destroyed so we can return to our previous way of life. Enrolment at Hazel Trembath has steadily increased over the past 3 years and has shown no signs of stopping as families continue to choose the area immediately surrounding Hazel Trembath as a place to live. So with a current student body of approximately 230 children, as well as two daycares on-site, the case for rebuilding Hazel Trembath speaks for itself.

Hazel Trembath was more than an elementary school. It was a unique community hub where children learned and grew not only from kindergarten to grade 5, but well before being of age to attend school. StrongStart, Hazelwood Early Learning Centre and Caring Hearts Childcare were all housed on the Hazel Trembath grounds. Sports groups, Scouts and Guides all used the space after hours as well. To not rebuild Hazel Trembath would be an immense blow to the entire community and its impact would be felt far and wide.

So I hope that this letter provides you with some insight into the importance of rebuilding Hazel Trembath Elementary in an expedited manner. I urge you to help us move forward as a community by providing a decision and timeline on the rebuild of Hazel Trembath Elementary.

Thank you for your time in reading this letter.