The question over establishing a school in the tiny community of Burwash Landing has long been a bone of contention for McIntyre-Takhini MLA John Edzerza.

Yesterday in the legislative assembly, the New Democrat urged Education Minister Patrick Rouble and the government to re-examine the issue.

"A community with no school is a community without a heartbeat, especially in a stand-alone first nation community," said Edzerza.

"Six weeks ago, nine parents in Burwash Landing sent a letter to the premier and Minister of Education on (this) issue that has been around for at least 35 years."

According to the Department of Education, the seven Burwash Landing students are the only ones currently enrolled at Kluane Lake School in Destruction Bay, and are bused there each day.

Those students taking the 20-km ride to the Kindergarten to Grade 8 school include one pre-Kindergarten, four Kindergarten, one Grade 1 and one Grade 4 student.

But busing is common for students across Canada, said Rouble, who added the next capital project is to replace F.H. Collins Secondary School in Whitehorse.

"School buses and indeed mixed-grade classrooms, are facts of life in Canadian education," he said. "Maybe, in an ideal world, it would be great to have it where every child could walk to school, but in Canada, and in the Yukon, we certainly have the challenge of distance to address."

Edzerza, a former Education minister serving in the previous Yukon Party government, told the Star today that Premier Dennis Fentie went back on his word to place a small portable school in Burwash Landing.

This about-face is what prompted Edzerza to leave the party prior to the 2006 territorial election, he said.

"It was a handshake deal by the premier and myself," Edzerza said. "I felt like I was double-crossed, and that was the last straw for me ... it was an embarrassment for me to have to phone (Kluane First Nation and community members) back and say, 'you don't have a school now,' and I felt that was very disrespectful."

Asked if there was justification to afford the small number of Burwash Landing students their own school, Edzerza told the Star people would return to the community if there was a school for their children to attend.

"(Burwash Landing) now has a subdivision that is almost ready to start accepting Kluane (First Nation) members back (and) they're crying for a school in the community so they can go home," Edzerza said.

Many people have already left Burwash Landing to have their children schooled elsewhere, he added.

"This is not a request that is way, way out of order. This is a request that makes a lot of sense."

Approximately 90 people live in Burwash Landing, the administrative centre for the Kluane First Nation.

Kluane Chief Willy Sheldon could not be reached for comment this morning.