BURNABY – Burnaby-Lougheed MLA Katrina Chen is celebrating construction of a safer school in Burnaby today, with work having begun on seismic upgrades at École Armstrong Elementary.

“We’re working hard to ensure families have the security of knowing their children are in safer schools,” said Chen. “Our government is accelerating the Seismic Mitigation Program to ensure every student in B.C. can attend a seismically safe school, and it’s exciting to see this making a difference for students in Burnaby.”

MLA Chen said that École Armstrong Elementary was built in 1955 and is at a high risk of significant damage in a large earthquake. Construction on the school is expected to be complete in December 2019.

Chen said that the New Democrat government is addressing the backlog of seismic and capital projects left over by the previous government throughout B.C. to ensure students have safer learning environments. Under the Seismic Mitigation Program, students at Alpha Secondary and Montecito Elementary in Burnaby returned to seismically safer schools this year.

The Ministry of Education is continuing to work with school districts and local governments throughout B.C. to speed up the funding approval process and reduce wait times for seismic and capital projects.

Quick Facts:

• Since September 2017, the B.C. government has approved more than $351 million in capital funding to upgrade or replace seismically high-risk schools and a total of $708 million in capital projects (including land purchases and additions).
• Budget 2018 is investing a record $2 billion in school capital projects over the next three years.

Learn More:

For more information about the Seismic Mitigation Program:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/administration/capital/seismic-mitigation

For information about current major capital projects at B.C. schools:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/administration/capital/major-capital-projects