Indigenous elders lodge slated to open near Grande Cache next year

Project partners and provincial officials participated in a topping blessing ceremony for the Kikinow Elders Lodge near Grande Cache on Aug. 29, 2024. The event marked the placement of the teepee’s peak, which represents the highest point on the building. (Supplied / Evergreens Foundation)

Construction is underway on the Kikinow Elders Lodge, which will provide affordable homes for Indigenous elders in Victor Lake near Grande Cache.

Project partners and provincial officials participated in a topping blessing ceremony on Aug. 29.

The event marked the placement of the teepee’s peak, which represents the highest point on the building.

“This development will be the core of our community and will serve our Elders for generations to come,” said Shirley Delorme Haggart, chair of the Victor Lake Co-operative, in a news release. “Our Elders will be supported in a facility that respects our culture and keeps them in the community as long as possible.”

The $14-million project is expected to be completed in January 2025, although it will take another month afterward before the lodge can house residents.

The Victor Lake Co-operative, one six Indigenous co-operatives and enterprises in the Grande Cache region, had reached out to the Evergreens Foundation in 2018 about the need to house local elders.

“They were struggling with housing the elders within their community,” said Shyam Menon, director of portfolio management for the Evergreens Foundation.

“They had reached out to many organizations, including the MD of Greenview, to support them in their pursuit for culturally appropriate housing … and finally, they reached out to the Everglades Foundation, requesting us to provide some kind of housing for them.”

The Evergreens Foundation, a non-profit housing management body, took up the project in 2019 and helped the co-operative secure over $2 million from the Alberta government through its Indigenous housing capital program

The six member municipalities of the Evergreens Foundation also agreed to provide funding, with $2 million coming from the MD of Greenview, where Grande Cache and Victor Lake are located.

Construction began in October last year, with the project now about 60 per cent complete.

The Kikinow Elders Lodge is 17,211 square feet and features a circular layout and a central home fire gathering space inspired by the traditional teepee structure.

Menon said the lodge would have 12 units, specifically 10 one-bedroom units and two two-bedroom units.

These units will be fully accessible, designed specifically for seniors and have kitchenettes and accessible washrooms.

“In all our facilities, we do provide a private patio to the outside, which is very important for seniors, and in this particular building, these patios overlook amazing mountain views, which plays a big role in the life of Indigenous elders,” he added.

The lodge is designed for a higher level of care. Menon said Alberta Health Services typically provides nursing staff at their foundation’s facilities, but they had yet to establish those contracts for this facility.

The intake process will be managed by the Evergreens Foundation, and the priority will be for people from the Victor Lake Co-operative.

“There has been a lot of Indigenous housing in many parts of this country, but this is unique in terms of its cultural appropriateness,” Menon said. “Even the design of the building has a lot of significance to the Indigenous culture. We do have special spaces for their cultural requirements.”

Through the indigenous housing capital program, the Alberta government has approved $73.5 million for 22 projects totalling 521 units.

“I am pleased to see the progress being made on the Kikinow Elders Lodge. Soon, aging Indigenous elders in the MD of Greenview will have access to these affordable and culturally supportive lodge spaces in the community they call home,” said Jason Nixon, Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services, in the news release.

“Strategic investments in projects like these are helping us meet the diverse housing needs of Indigenous people, now and in the future.”