Construction of the new Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre is starting to take shape at its new location along Gottingen Street in central Halifax. On Monday the project received a $1-million donation that will help it offer palliative and end-of-life care for Mi’kmaw individuals and families. It’s the kind of care that has been missing from the health-care system, said Pam Glode Desrocher, executive director at the centre. “It gives a bit of validation to the community,” said Glode Desrocher. “The importance of ceremony, language, all of those pieces of how important that is.” The goal is to give Mi’kmaw people a space where culture, spirituality and ceremony can be part of end-of-life care, something Pauline Meader, health director at the centre, says can be hard to come by in the provincial health-care system. “We try to give people the most dignified death in hospital, but we’re always missing pieces,” said Meader. “And so my hope is that we don’t have to miss any pieces in this space, and so that our people get to die with exactly the dignity they dream for themselves.” The J&W Murphy Foundation donated $1 million to the project. It’s the largest gift the centre project has received to date and will go towards the building of a palliative and end-of-life care centre. The foundation said the support of the palliative and end-of-life care centre along with a training space for death doulas made sense. “It was a really easy, yes, and Pam…is a very persuasive person,” said Lisa Murphy, who spoke on behalf of the foundation. The plans for the new facility have been years in the making, said Glode Desrocher, who toured the 75,000-square-foot-facility on Monday with a group of reporters. Construction of the facility is expected to be completed by the end of July but says they still need to raise another $4 million to complete it. “Each time I go by there’s something else that I see, and I’m like, ‘okay, this is really happening,’” said Glode Desrocher. “It’s no longer a dream. It’s no longer in the head. It’s actually on the site.” For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
