Fundraising committee has $19 million target
WIIKWEMKOONG—The excitement in the air of the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory (WUT) council chambers was palpable as the official launch of a $32 million capital fundraising campaign for a new Elders residence in Wiikwemkoong was set to get underway. Representatives of two major donors, TD Canada Trust and Hydro One, were standing by with large coroplast cheques and matching smiles.
Those smiles were reflected on faces around the room as TD Canada Trust district vice-president John Doris and Little Current branch manager Tanner Bell unveiled the $750,000 amount written on their cheque and got even broader as Hydro One senior manager, Indigenous relations, Simmer Anand and senior advisor, Indigenous relations, Christina Reynolds revealed the $25,000 on their cheque, the first of three annual installments that will total $75,000.
Mr. Doris noted that TD Canada Trust is proud of the 40-year relationship between the financial institution and Wiikwemkoong and to be able to support such a worthy project. He noted that the contribution was a small part of TD’s commitment to the ongoing process of reconciliation.
For his part, Mr. Anand noted that Hydro One was proud to be a part of “this important initiative.” He noted that, as a person of Punjabi origin, his own grandmother had lived in a long-term care residence that not only provided a safe and healthy place, but also one that was supportive of her culture and appropriate food. It was a connection that proved to him just how important those things are to an elder’s quality of life.
“It’s a wonderful day. The highlight, of course, is that the elders are being taken care of,” said Wiikwemkoong Ogimaa-kwe Rachel Manitowabi. “That their work has been done over their lifetime. Now they need a bit of a reprieve. I am confident we will be able to give them a new place to call home.”
Ogimaa-kwe Manitowabi cited the words of Jet Francis, Wiikwemkoong Nursing Home residents’ association president, “he said, ‘I go to sleep and I feel like I am at home, when I wake up, I know I am at home.’ That really struck me. That is what is going to keep me going as I do my advocacy as chief. Not to tire, but to rest and be rejuvenated by those kind of words and that kind of ideal that we are trying to reach here in Wiikwemkoong for this elders’ home. I am humbled to be a small part of it—the work started long before me. We are going to work very hard for the people.”
Ogima-kwe Manitowabi noted that, not only will the residence be a new home for the elders, but that many people from the community will be a part of constructing the residence and then staffing it as well. “People will be around to see the building, I believe, in a sacred way,” she said. “It is such a privilege to be part of it—very humbling.”
Among the dignitaries also speaking at the launch were elder Linda Eshkawkogan, who delivered a prayer in Anishinabemowin to start the event “in a good way.”
Ogimaa-kwe Manitowabi delivered greetings of welcome on behalf of her community and its leadership and expressed her confidence in the team moving the fundraising campaign forward and that the new elders’ home will be in place before the current residence licence expires in 2025. The chief cited the hard work and dedication to the project by past leaders, including her immediate predecessor, Duke Peltier.
WUT operations manager Shelly Trudeau then provided a brief synopsis of the history of the current elders’ residence and an update on the project so far. She noted plans for the new residence took concrete shape in 2017 with a feasibility study, but that, like many things, the pandemic took its toll on progress. When the project design was first put together, the fundraising campaign had a planned $19 million goal, but with the jump in construction costs, that number had to be revised significantly upwards.
Still, the plans are in place, the location decided (close to the centre of Wiikwemkoong Village in an area south of the public works building) and it is anticipated that the shovels will be in the ground by the fall.
Former WUT band manager and fundraising committee member Walter Manitowabi, who currently resides in North Bay, noted that it was great to be back in his home community and recalled the work of his own father in clearing the land back in 1969-70 for the original Wiikwemkoong Nursing Home and the efforts of leaders like Bon George in getting that project off the ground. “The first long-term care residence to be established on a First Nation,” he said. Mr. Manitowabi noted that his father was also on council at the time and the home was near and dear to his heart. Eventually, his father moved into the home during his final years. “He gladly moved to the nursing home,” recalled Mr. Manitowabi. “He was happy to be there and well fed.”
The pre-COVID budget was set at $28 million, but Mr. Manitowabi estimated that number would most likely rise to $32 million when all is said and done. The provincial government has pledged $13 million towards the cost and the new licence will allow for an expansion to 97 beds. Local fundraising efforts are making great headway, he noted, but the team is also reaching out to many other funding avenues, including other government agencies, foundations and corporate donors.
“We are going to meet our goal,” he assured those assembled in the council chambers and watching online through a livestream. “We are going to meet it because we have to.” He noted that many of the elders who call the current Wiikwemkoong Nursing Home their home were taken from their community “too many times. We can’t let that happen again.”
Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing MP Carol Hughes brought greetings on behalf of herself and her provincial colleague Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Mike Mantha. She said that the new elders residence has been “a long time coming.” Ms. Hughes noted that the first option for elders is to remain living in their own home, but that when the time comes that option is no longer viable the Wiikwemkoong Nursing Home staff and community provides the very best next option—with activities such as hunting and shopping sprees to make the residence a home. Now the community, she said, is building something “bigger and even better.”
Residents association president Jet Francis noted the residents are proud of their home, but they are looking forward with happy anticipation to the new residence. “I know somebody who would be really happy to see the new building, my mom and dad,” he said. He shared that his brother is also at the long-term facility and the residents are very happy when children from the community come to visit and it was always wonderful when the children don’t want to leave.
As quoted by Ogimaa-kwe Manitowabi, Mr. Francis said, “When I go to sleep I feel like I am at home, when I wake up, I know I am at home.”
