Teacher who died on ice road mourned

The northern Saskatchewan community of Wollaston Lake is mourning a popular teacher who died after crashing into a large ice crack on the winter road across the lake.

"It's a very tragic situation," Hatchet Lake Dene Nation band councillor Ed Benoanie said. "It's a very sad day."

Police said the name of the woman hasn't been released, pending notification of her family members.

Benoanie said the young women was originally from Oshawa, Ont., and had been teaching in the community for three years.

"She loved the kids there and she was a very loved person," Benoanie said. "The community is just shocked with it, and today, right now as we speak, the community is in a mourning stage."

While returning from a trip to get her windshield fixed Sunday night, she apparently missed a detour and fell into what the RCMP called a "pressure heave crack".

The next day, a search team on snowmobiles found the body in the vehicle, which had flipped over and was submerged in about 1.2 metres of water.

A wake is planned.

Meanwhile, the accident is renewing pressure for an all-weather road to be built to the northern community.

Benoanie said the band will continue to lobby for a meeting with the provincial government to get the project restarted.