Métis federation ‘breaks ground’ on transitional home for women

The Manitoba Métis Federation held an unusual groundbreaking ceremony Thursday to mark the construction of a 10-bed transitional home for women who want to escape violent relationships.

Officials from the MMF, Infinity Women Secretariat and federal and provincial governments turned sod indoors at the federation offices on Henry Avenue in Winnipeg instead of the Interlake, where the facility will be located, to protect future tenants.

“This transitional housing is so much more than 10 apartments… we want (women) to leave there whole,” said Anita Campbell, a spokeswoman for the secretariat, an affiliate organization of the federation.

The federal government will contribute $4.3 million to the project, while the province will kick in $880,000. The remainder of the tab for the $9.2-million project will be covered by the MMF.

The first phase of the complex will have 10 rooms, 42 child-care spaces, a healing space and services that include trauma-informed counselling and life skills training.

Women and their children will be permitted to live at the home for as long as two years.

The project will be led by the secretariat, a non-profit that advocates for Métis women, and is a first under the MMF banner.

Campbell stopped short of revealing future plans, but said she’d like to transitional homes to be built in more Manitoba locations.

“We’re hoping that this turns into something that the women will be really proud of,” she said.

The project was partly inspired by a 2021 Probe Research poll commissioned by the secretariat that found 88 per cent of respondents — all Métis women — were experiencing some form of violence at home.

“It was really an eye-opener for us,” Campbell said.

Rebecca Chartrand, the federal minister of northern and Arctic affairs, said the project is a direct response to the calls for justice from the inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

“It’s one of the ways communities are working together to end the crisis and address the deep harms that affected Indigenous women, girls and to LGBTTQ+ people,” Chartrand said. “It’s a promise to walk alongside people as they find their way back home.”

The project is one of several transitional homes for women in Manitoba. The province has several options for women and their children, including the Indigenous Women’s Healing Centre, which runs Memengwaa Place in Winnipeg; the Alpha House Project, which operates the Second Stage Program; and ChezRachel, which offers second stage housing and programming for mothers and children who are fleeing domestic violence.

Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said the Manitoba government will partner with the secretariat for the second phase of the project, but didn’t divulge in what capacity.

The secretariat will hold a contest to name the Interlake facility, which is expected to open April 2026.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca