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Cision Canada
a day ago
- General
- Cision Canada
Government of Canada invests in new Boat School at Maritime Museum of the Atlantic Français
HALIFAX, NS, /CNW/ - The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is getting an exciting new addition after a combined investment of more than $6.5 million from the federal government and the Canadian Maritime Heritage Foundation. This funding is supporting the creation of a new Boat School, currently under construction, which has been integrated into the Maritime Museum site on the Halifax waterfront. Once complete, museum staff will provide workshops and programming in boatbuilding and sail training at the new facility for larger numbers of at-risk youth from the Mi'kmaw, African Nova Scotian, and immigrant and refugee communities, as well as young women. Programs for the Boat School are currently run out of smaller boat sheds on the Maritime Museum site, part of the Nova Scotia Museum family, which limit the number of youth who can take part. Due to its location over the harbour, the new Boat School will be exposed to possible flooding and hurricanes. As a result, the construction will incorporate climate resistance features, including being built high enough to withstand sea-level rise and strong enough to survive a Category 2 hurricane. The building will also incorporate energy-efficient features such as triple-pane windows and a high-efficiency heat pump system. The facility is projected to meet the standards of the Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC). Quotes "The new climate-smart Boat School will be a welcome addition to the Halifax waterfront, providing opportunities to share the traditional maritime skills of boatbuilding and sailing with a wider audience of youth from diverse backgrounds. When we invest in climate-resilient infrastructure, we ensure that what we build is protected now and into the future." Shannon Miedema, Member of Parliament for Halifax "Our Foundation has been inspired for years by the passionate commitment of Maritime Museum leaders and staff to creating a Boat School for kids-at-risk from marginalized communities throughout Nova Scotia. Sharing this Boat School dream and its community values with our generous donors, led by the Province of Nova Scotia, the Government of Canada's Green and Inclusive Community Buildings program and Irving Shipbuilding, has led to an outpouring of financial support for the Boat School's construction and its programs which has been both breathtaking and humbling. To this point, private sector companies, foundations and individuals have contributed $4,686,000 to the Boat School project; $3,061,000 for Capital and $1,625,000 for Program." John Hennigar-Shuh, President, Canadian Maritime Heritage Foundation Quick Facts The federal government is investing $3,269,400 in this project through the Green and Inclusive Community Buildings (GICB) program, while the Canadian Maritime Heritage Foundation is contributing $3,275,000. The GICB program was created in support of Canada's Strengthened Climate Plan: A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy. It is supporting the Plan's first pillar by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing energy efficiency, and helping develop higher resilience to climate change. The program launched in 2021 with an initial investment of $1.5 billion over five years towards green and accessible retrofits, repairs or upgrades. Budget 2024 announced an additional $500 million to support more projects through GICB until 2029. At least 10% of funding is allocated to projects serving First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities, including Indigenous populations in urban centres. For more information, please visit the Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada website at: Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada - Green and Inclusive Community Buildings Program. The funding announced today builds on the federal government's work through the Atlantic Growth Strategy to create well-paying jobs and strengthen local economies. Green and Inclusive Community Buildings Strengthened Climate Plan Housing and Infrastructure Project Map SOURCE Department of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities
CBC
04-04-2025
- Health
- CBC
N.W.T. counsellors say $7M from feds will establish new healing lodge
New federal funding for a healing lodge in N.W.T. will help establish a facility focused on cultural immersion, land-based wellness, and processing grief and trauma, according to a couple of trauma counsellors in the territory. "Trauma impacts the body, the heart, the mind and spirit," said Roy Erasmus, who co-owns Dene Wellness Warriors with his partner Jean Erasmus. "It's a wound that adds to personal and intergenerational suffering. We want the participants to learn how trauma has impacted them and we offer the tools to deal with reactions to trauma and live in the present," said Roy. Roy and Jean co-chair the Endacho Healing Society which will build a new, energy-efficient and eco-sensitive healing lodge with 24 beds and six- to eight-week healing programs. N.W.T. MP Michael McLeod announced $7 million in federal funding for the facility last month, days before the federal election was called. "Across the Northwest Territories, many Indigenous peoples, families and communities are deeply affected by trauma and its health and social impacts," McLeod said in a March 21 news release. The funding is part of the federal Green and Inclusive Community Buildings (GICB) program, focused on creating a healthy environment and economy. The new lodge will focus on culture and traditional teachings, blending Western and Indigenous healing methods to "help deal with the traumas" that addictions stem from, said Roy Erasmus. The centre will be distinct as a trauma healing lodge and will not be an addictions healing centre. Endacho will provide aftercare to people who are at least 35 days sober, a requirement before attending, Roy said. Endacho will be open to people who have been sober for years or decades and even those who never faced addictions. "It's not only psycho-educational, it's really immersing the participants in culture. There will be a land-based component and we know as Indigenous Dene that the land heals," said Jean. Jean Erasmus said the lodge would also serve elders. "They've been through a lot and lived a long life with their traumas, and a lot of them haven't dealt with it," she said. Current treatment difficult to access N.W.T. residents currently face waits to attend healing programs in B.C., and there is a lack of an Indigenous-focused trauma healing space to send people to, Roy said. He says the existing referral process for treatment programs is "very complicated" and requires seeing a psychiatrist or psychiatric nurse in order to be assessed. The Endacho lodge will be different, said Roy. "We're hoping that people will be able to get referred by a central person in each community working with the lodge, and that it would be a lot easier than it is right now," he said. Jean said the planned healing lodge will build on the work of the N.W.T.-based Northern Indigenous Counselling program, which trained 16 counsellors in its 2022 cohort and expects 13 more to graduate this July. "The beautiful thing about it is that they're not only trained, but they've done a lot of inner work to help them [in] healing their wounds so that they can be really effective counsellors," said Jean. The Endacho Healing Society still must negotiate the conditions of its contribution agreement and is still working to select a location for the facility. It has an advisory committee with members from each region across the N.W.T. "When we made our presentations to the annual assemblies, every region we went to, they all said, 'put it in our region.' Someone may come forward and make us an offer we can't refuse," said Roy Erasmus. Healing for complex, repeat traumas Roy said communities in the North are highly interconnected and when there's a tragedy, "everybody knows about it and it affects everybody." Erasmus points to the community of Fort Good Hope, N.W.T., where a 29-year-old man was allegedly murdered in February. Just weeks later, in the same community of about 500 people, a woman was found dead after an alleged stabbing. Roy said it would be a "huge accomplishment" to provide trauma healing in the North. "The impact of colonization is the origin of most community, family and personal problems," he said. Dene Wellness Warriors will test its curriculum for a master's degree in trauma counselling in two pilot programs in preparation for the healing lodge, he said. Practicum students from the Northern Indigenous Counselling program will assist in a four-week program focused on processing grief and regulating compounding traumas. The program topics will include "reclaiming our culture, confronting colonization and its impacts," he said.
