Students: Spring Break Resources

Inner City High School will be closed March 24-28 for Spring Break. We will resume normal school hours on Monday, March 31, 2025. If you are experiencing crisis in the period that we are closed, please access these resources for support.

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DISTRESS LINES

211 - community resources/information line – it will transfer you to any distress lines (24/7)
Outside of Edmonton, 780-482-INFO (4636) 

1-877-303-2642 = Mental Health Help Line

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ALTERNATE CRISIS CONTACTS

Distress Centre 24/7 Line - 780-482-HELP - (4357) 
Or chat: https://edmonton.cmha.ca  

Kids Help Line - 1-800-668-6868 
or Text CONNECT to 686868 

FNMI Hope for Wellness Help Line (24/7) - 1-855-242-3310 
or chat https://www.hopeforwellness.ca/ 

Canada Suicide Prevention Service (French/English)   
Text:   9-8-8 
Chat:   www.988.ca 

Phone counselling (Through Kids Help Phone)
1-888-668-6910 

EMERGENCY CONTACTS
The following services and resources are available when you need help urgently:  
9-1-1 (request mental health professionals), or walk into Emergency Dept of Hospital

ACCESS 24/7 (18+) Urgent Support:  
Call: 780-424-2424 
Walk-in: *NEW LOCATION* Edmonton Community Health Hub North at 13211 Fort Rd NW 

ACCESS Open Minds Walk-in clinic (ages 16-25) 
Monday - Friday 12PM-5PM
6th floor, 9942 108 Street 

Our Annual Spring Snow Valley Ski & Snowboard Trip

Our annual spring Snow Valley Ski & Snowboard trip was held on Thursday, March 13. The conditions were fabulous! As you can see, everyone had a blast! Our thanks to Snow Valley for their support for student rentals, lift tickets & lunch! A shout out to our staff - Alana, Armand, Derek, Tanys, Kaelei & Matt - who accompanied 20 students for a day on the slopes.

Goota Shares Inuit Culture & Traditional Food

Our thanks to Goota, an Inuk woman from northern Canada, who visited the school yesterday. She led a hands-on presentation in the gym, sharing about her people's Inuit culture and their traditional foods, speaking to both students and staff. Goota was born in Kinngait (Cape Dorset) Nunavut. Her early childhood was spent in a modern Inuit settlement during the winters and in a traditional camp during the summers. She is now an urban Inuk, living in Alberta for the past 30 years yet she stays connected to her Inuit culture through frequent visits to her home community. Excellent presentation! Our thanks to the Canadian Native Friendship Centre for helping us connect with Goota!

Push-Up Challenge Completed!

In February, some students at Inner City High School participate in our first Push-Up Challenge. Our Phys Ed teachers worked with participants to help them stay motivated and have fun. The Push-Up Challenge was a unique and fun way for our school to foster better mental health and wellbeing through physical activity, connection and bite-sized mental health facts.

Derek (left) and Francis (right) kick off the month’s challenge with prizes in the gym.

We awarded prizes to 2 student winners of the 'Push Up Challenge'. Connor (pictured) won the Toes Push-Up category with 650 pushups, and Shirley won in the Knee Push-Up category with 124 pushups. Both students won prizes that were handed out by Derek.

Cirque du Soleil Provides Free Tickets to School

Our thanks to Cirque du Soleil for providing 45 complimentary tickets to “Crystal” at Rogers Place, in Edmonton, on February 26, 2025. It was our largest after-school outing in recent memory. The evening started with pizza and basketball in the gym and then it was off to the show. Rave reviews of the production came in by those that attended. Great night out!

Lewis Cardinal Shares Learnings & Beliefs with Students

Students and staff listen to Lewis Cardinal speak in the school gym.

Lewis Cardinal visited Inner City High School last week and spoke to an all-school assembly in the gym. Lewis is Woodland Cree from the Sucker Creek Cree First Nation in Treaty No. 8 and has had a long connection with us. In our early days, he was instrumental in assisting the school develop and progress at a time when it was at a crossroads.

From that experience, he shares a friendship with Joe Cloutier, one of our founders and our Director of Education. Lewis also grew up in the inner city not far from Inner City High. Like Joe, Lewis has dedicated his life’s work to creating and maintaining connections and relationships that cross cultural divides. Lewis's professional work has mirrored his personal vision of a socially just and responsive society. Currently, Lewis is Senior Advisor for the Indigenous Knowledge and Wisdom Centre and “kihcihkaw askî–Sacred Land” in Edmonton. It is Canada’s first urban Indigenous ceremony grounds.

He spoke to students and staff about his remarkable life, his learnings, and his beliefs.

We were grateful for having him visit and share his time and words with us.

Joe Cloutier (Left) and Lewis Cardinal at Inner City High School on February 19, 2025.