Unique circumstances are part and parcel of Indigenous learning at Catholic schools in Fort McMurray, Alta., in a year where education has already been anything but normal.

Returning to the classroom after four months away is providing a sense of normalcy to the Catholic education community in Fort McMurray.

The question, Rabbi Kliel Rose says, is not whether to help. It is not even how to help in the most efficient way. It is how to help in the fullest way.

There is no doubt that the events at Fort McMurray are a tragedy. But the tragedy lies not only in the destruction, but in the disruption of everyday life.

In recent decades Fort McMurray and the oil industry it symbolizes has divided Canadians. The Alberta oil hub was regarded as either a badge of national prosperity or symbol of ecological disgrace. The arguments were fierce.

EDMONTON – A smiling St. Joseph's College employee poked her head around Danica Wolitski's door and said, "We've got another family with three children."

EDMONTON – The gang at EnviroClean Drycleaners in downtown Fort McMurray sticks together.

EDMONTON – Pope Francis has added his name to the list of people offering prayers for Canadians affected by the massive wildfires that have led to the evacuation of Fort McMurray.

Although flames destroyed much of Fort McMurray, a resident found comfort in how the emergency united the community, even as fleeing people left everything behind but each other.

ST. PAUL, ALTA. – Neighbouring dioceses are stepping up to help the thousands who have been displaced by the catastrophic wildfire threatening the very existence of Fort McMurray, Alta.

As firefighters continue the fight to save Fort McMurray from a wildfire that is threatening to consume the entire northern Alberta city, it is feared that St. Paul Church is one of the city’s structures that has been lost to flames.