After years of planning and constructing, a new Indigenous elders lodge is about to open close to the Rocky Mountain group of Grande Cache, Alta.
“It feels good to be here,” stated Winston Delorme, surveying progress on the 17,200-square-foot Kikinow Elders Lodge.
“When we first got here there used to be a road up here and it was just bush,” stated Delorme. Now it’s “almost a full, operating lodge here — for our people.”
The thought for the lodge, positioned on the Victor Lake Co-operative, an Indigenous land holding on the north boundary of Grande Cache, 430 kilometres west of Edmonton, was first conceived in 2018 and development bought underway in 2023.
Functions are being accepted this month from Indigenous folks within the space who wish to dwell within the 14-bed facility.
Victor Lake is likely one of the six Indigenous co-operatives and enterprises within the Grande Cache space.
Delorme, a Victor Lake group chief, factors to the constructing’s half-moon design — with its teepee and fireside on the coronary heart of the lodge, smudge space, crafting room and group kitchen — as examples of what makes the $15-million greenback mission distinctive.
Kikinow means “our home” in Cree and Delorme stated the aim is to create a non-institutional place in the neighborhood the place elders can age comfortably and safely.
“They get to come and go as they please. It’s not a jail for them,” he stated.
“If they want to go to town, they go to town, if they want to go home for the night — back to their old home — that’s up to them. That’s the biggest thing is they’re not kept.”
Hilda Hallock, a 57-year-old Victor Lake group member, stated she will be able to see herself ultimately dwelling on the lodge.
Searching the balcony of the house, Hallock sees the identical mountain views that she’s had all her life.
“I believe we are the land and the land is us,” she stated.
“This building will allow me to continue to live that life as I age, to maintain that connection and not be removed from it.”
It’s a spot that Hallock stated will free her of life’s “everyday stresses,” like making certain her pipes don’t freeze and he or she has sufficient wooden chopped to final the winter.
Funding for the mission is coming from the federal and provincial governments, the Municipal District of Greenview and different municipal regional companions with assist from Canada Mortgage and Housing Company, stated Shyam Menon, director of portfolio administration with The Evergreens Basis.
Functions are being accepted for potential residents of the Kikinow Elders Lodge, opening this summer time close to Grande Cache, Alta. Get a really feel for Kikinow — Cree for ‘our home’ — and what it means to the group.
The not-for-profit administration firm will run the seniors dwelling facility.
“This project is a unique partnership between a housing management body and an Indigenous organization,” Menon stated, “bringing much needed culturally appropriate housing and care to the elders in the region.”
Workers with Scott Builders Inc. are persevering with work on infrastructure, landscaping and the inside of Kikinow Elders Lodge with residents anticipated to maneuver in later this summer time.
Shirley Delorme, president of the Victor Lake Co-operative, stated opening up functions for residents makes it really feel actual.
Delorme stated she expects the lodge to be a particular place for the entire group.
“I think we’re going to have a lot of involvement with the younger generation,” she stated. “This is going to be a common place where they can come and learn from the elders.”
