Ottawa contributes $91M to 10-storey Naawi-Oodena apartment block

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This article was published 18/03/2026 (187 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The federal government has announced $91 million to support the development of a 10-storey apartment building that’s under construction at the former Kapyong Barracks site.

“This is an exciting day, but it really marks the doors opening for future with a lot more affordable homes for people who need them the most,” said federal Housing Minister Gregor Robertson.

The project — named Endayaan Omaa, meaning “home is here” in the Anishinaabemowin language — will create 260 housing units in southwest Winnipeg; 109 units will offer affordable rents below median market value.

It is part of the larger plan to transform the former military site into Canada’s largest urban reserve. The overall project, led by a consortium of seven Treaty One Nations and dubbed Naawi-Oodena, is expected to provide about 5,000 homes.

“The challenge we have in Canada is for several decades, not enough housing has been built; not enough affordable housing. We are changing that,” Robertson said.

Construction on the building began in July, and is expected to continue until 2028.

On Wednesday, construction crews worked through freezing rain as Indigenous leaders, politicians and project stakeholders gathered behind a chain-link fence to catch a glimpse of the progress.

Cody Mercer, the chief development officer of Treaty One Development Corp., the Indigenous group behind the project, said 80 workers are currently involved in construction and the workforce is slated to grow to 150 in the coming months. Of those currently on site, 60 per cent are Indigenous.

The former military site, abandoned in 2004, is one of the locations across the country slated for development by the Build Canada Homes Agency.

Canada Lands Company, a federal Crown corporation, has 32 per cent of the 160-acre property, which is on the west side of Kenaston Boulevard between Grant and Taylor avenues, and a portion of the east side as well.

The First Nations consortium repatriated the site’s remaining 109 acres (approximately 68 per cent) and changed its name to Naawi-Oodena. Following a 2019 land transfer agreement, the group formally established the property as Canada’s largest urban reserve in 2022.

Chief Gordon BlueSky, chairperson for Treaty One Nations, said Indigenous leaders reclaimed the land with the intention of leading future development to create a healthy community, ripe with economic benefits and opportunities.

He, and others before him, spent more than two decades advocating for the project and fighting to get it off the ground.

“We started off with that little bit of friction, maybe a lot of the people in the surrounding area not understanding what it is that we were going to do,” he said.

“This is what everybody was scared of in the begining, First Nations coming out, developing lands — which is all we’ve ever promoted that we’re going to be doing on this site — to advance ourselves economically. I don’t think this looks very scary.”

The apartment building under construction is the second major development to come as part of Naawi-Oodena. The Oodena Gas and Convenience store opened across the street at 1871 Taylor Ave. last spring.

While most of the funding for the construction comes from Ottawa, the Treaty One Nations are providing $7.2 million in land equity and Efficiency Manitoba, a provincial Crown corporation, is kicking in $765,000.

The federal government previously announced plans to build 320 homes on two parcels of land located just south of the apartment building.

The master plan for the Naawi-Oodena site envisions a sprawling community, complete with various forms of housing, mixed-use commercial spaces, and areas reserved for sports and recreation.

Kathleen BlueSky, the chief executive officer of Treaty One Development Corp., said the entire project could be completed as early as 12 years from now.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca