MMF to invest in child care, seniors housing in The Pas

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This article was published 02/11/2021 (1776 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba Metis Federation is committing $10.3 million to develop affordable seniors housing and child care in The Pas.

At a news conference Tuesday in The Pas, the MMF announced the first major investment in the town in decades to build affordable housing complexes for Métis seniors, as well as a culturally-focused child care centre, a public park and a community garden, all a short walk from the Saskatchewan River.

“We know there’s a massive shortfall of daycare needed and of child care needed for families, we also know there’s a shortage of multi-family senior homes,” MMF president David Chartrand said over the phone Tuesday.

Chartrand likens the new builds — which he expects to be up and running within approximately two years — to “a new subdivision.” A handful of duplexes and triplexes earmarked for seniors and multi-family living will be built adjacent to the new daycare centre and park in a cul-de-sac style.

“It’s an absolutely fabulous investment… the MMF are making in our community,” said The Pas Mayor Herb Jacques in a phone call. “This will be the single largest investment that we’ve had in many, many years.”

Jacques said local daycare spots have been in short supply, as has affordable housing for seniors, making the new development a “welcome addition” to the community.

“The program that the MMF is offering to their seniors… it’s affordable. It’ll allow people the dignity of staying in their homes longer, they’ll have a much better quality of life, and there should be significantly less stress for them,” the mayor said.

The residences will be priced at the same affordable rate as homes the MMF has built across the province — a subsidized rent of $759 — and are designed with senior-friendly amenities and energy efficiency in mind, said Chartrand.

“That’s inclusive of everything: hydro, water, maintenance, even cutting your grass and shovelling your snow,” he said. “You don’t have to lift a finger when you move in there.

“Elders are No. 1, that’s a priority for us as a government, that’s why we’re building senior homes everywhere we go,” said Chartrand. “With seniors and daycare centres, we’re trying to combine them so there’s a cultural teaching ability that takes place at the same time.”

Educational elements at the child care facility will be culturally rooted, the MMF said. Children will be introduced to environmental issues such as climate change, and the centre plans to host land-based teachings to ensure children develop relationships to the surrounding land.

“We have truly failed the next generation, we have not done as much as we should have done with fighting climate change,” said Chartrand. “But we believe one of the greatest strengths is to start teaching them at a young age what the environment is and how it affects them.”

The daycare centre will also ensure the Cree language is “prominent” in learning.

More daycare spots will also hopefully mean more parents are able to rejoin the workforce, said Jacques, adding The Pas is currently experiencing a labour shortage.

“Our goal is to build about 15 of these childcare centres and, at the same time, we’re going to alleviate the pressures on families so they can get back to work,” Chartrand said.

On top of housing and child care, Chartrand said he envisions the investment bringing new jobs and new business to the North.

He plans to keep the supply chain for the project as rooted in the North as possible and expects dozens of permanent jobs — including 15 to 20 childcare workers — open up in the near future.

“We’re just so happy for this today,” Jacques said of the project announcement. “You work behind the scenes for so long… It’s really nice when you finally see something happen.”

julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jsrutgers