From: Pollock Brock
To 'Degrassi Digest
Subject RE The school building which Degrassi Junior high was
filmed in for three years
Date: Tue. 20 Jan 1998 17:45:07
The school Vincent Massey was closed to regular public school
education in 1983. Since that time Thc Etobicoke Board leased the
building to many tenants. St. Peters College was a Private
school that leased part of the building for a short period. While
closed to public education the Etobicoke Board kept the school
name on the building at the request of the community. Filming of
Degrassi was an opportunity for the board to generate lease
revenue on a vacant building, film locations in vacant schools
allowed the board time to seek out long term tenants, we also had
the T.V. series The Campbells filmed in another one of our vacant
schools. The choice of school was basically due to availability.
The location was vacant so filming schedules could be set without
worrying about noise. Since it was vacant the location could be
guaranteed for the entire series. The boards relationship with
Degrassi was very good and we had no damage to the building.