Club set to host Sask. Winter Games skiing loses chalet in fire

Katie Swyers · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 04, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

A "devastating" occurrence has jeopardized a non-profit club's quality to big the Saskatchewan Winter Games. 

The St. Cyr Trails Club had conscionable invested extensively, through fundraising and grants, successful replacing its chalet's roof in mentation for hosting the cross-country and Para Nordic skiing lawsuit successful February 2026.

Now, the twisted and burnt metallic sheets of that extortion are 1 of the fewer things that stay aft the chalet burned to the crushed successful May, successful what the nine called "a implicit loss."

"We really hadn't adjacent made a nationalist announcement yet astir the extortion earlier we nary longer had a roof," said Desiree Lalonde, 1 of the club's committee of directors, adding the occurrence had "a immense affectional impact" connected the club's committee and volunteers.

"It was a large nonaccomplishment to us, not conscionable practically for our events, but besides for america emotionally due to the fact that we had large hopes for it. And we besides had truly bully memories from the facility, arsenic well," she said of the chalet, which was built successful the 1980s. 

The St. Cyr Trails Club is wholly tally by volunteers and maintains a bid of hiking, biking and cross-country accomplishment trails successful the boreal forest, year-round. It is the provincial recreation tract for Makwa Lake Provincial Park successful occidental Saskatchewan. 

The nine received operational funds from the Saskatchewan Winter Games for hosting and immoderate wealth for tiny "legacy" items that volition stay with the nine aft the events, similar way attraction equipment, but that wealth was already spent earlier the fire.

Since the nine made the chalet renovations a priority, Lalonde said it present has little backing that could perchance spell toward replacing the cardinal infrastructure.

The nine is moving with the Saskatchewan Winter Games to research some impermanent and imperishable solutions for replacing the chalet. But some organizations accidental wealth is tight, and the club's quality to physique a caller imperishable chalet successful clip for the games and the wintertime skiing play volition travel down to fundraising. 

"It would apt beryllium challenging fixed the abbreviated timeline," Lalonde said, adding determination is simply a batch of unit connected the nine to rise funds and travel up with options to let them to big the event. 

"That is our goal. That's our dream," she said.  

No 'nice large cheque' from Saskatchewan Winter Games, for now 

On the Saskatchewan Winter Games side, the existent anticipation is to support the skiing lawsuit with the St. Cyr Trails Club, games manager Britnee Dunsing said.

"We would emotion to big it astatine St. Cyr's. And successful our minds, that's wherever we are inactive hosting it," she said. 

However, without either a imperishable oregon impermanent operation to regenerate the mislaid chalet, Dunsing said they cannot warrant that plan. 

The Saskatchewan Winter Games is constricted successful however overmuch wealth it tin enactment toward what it calls bequest projects, which stay successful the assemblage aft the event, Dunsing said. 

"As overmuch arsenic the Winter Games committee wants to beryllium capable to manus them a bully large cheque, successful reality, we person to marque definite that we tin run the games archetypal earlier we lend to bequest money," Dunsing said. "The chalet is decidedly considered a bequest piece."

If the Saskatchewan Winter Games gets much sponsors than expected, that other backing could perchance spell toward helping the St. Cyr Club rebuild the chalet.

"Currently, it's each astir fundraising and getting wealth from the community," Dunsing said. 

Chalet occurrence not connected to wildfires

The May occurrence that destroyed the chalet was isolated to the chalet itself, Lalonde said. 

She said RCMP are investigating the origin of the fire, which is presently unknown.

"We were fortunate that determination had been a batch of rainfall the week before," she said. "It surely could person been a batch worse for the surrounding areas."

Volunteers are inactive cleaning up the tract of the aged chalet much than a period aft the fire. 

It's not the lone portion of assemblage infrastructure that has been mislaid to occurrence successful caller years and has impacted the upcoming Saskatchewan Winter Games. In 2021, Meadow Lake's hockey arena burned down. 

"Unfortunately, we're nary alien to losing facilities," Dunsing said.

Replacing the hockey arena factored into the community's quality to bid connected the 2026 Saskatchewan Winter Games, arsenic it had to guarantee the rink would beryllium operational successful clip for the games, Dunsing said. 

She said the caller arena conscionable opened this month.