Construction on a new multimillion-dollar transitional housing project to support Métis women and children fleeing violence is underway in the rural municipality of St. Andrews.
Officials from the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) and Infinity Women Secretariat held a groundbreaking ceremony alongside federal and provincial ministers in Winnipeg on Thursday.
The event was held in a room at the MMF building on Henry Avenue, keeping the facility’s address private to protect its future residents.
Once built, the facility will house 10 furnished apartments and wraparound supports, including a child-care centre with space for 42 children, trauma-informed counselling, education and employment services, recreational spaces and a community garden.
It is expected to open next spring, an MMF spokesperson told CBC on Thursday.
Anita Campbell, a spokesperson for the Infinity Women Secretariat — a Métis gender equity non-profit organization affiliated with the MMF — said survivors will be able to stay in the facility for up to two years.
“This transitional housing is so many more things than 10 apartments.… It’s for them to build their own community,” Campbell said, calling the facility a “community of care” focused on helping survivors heal.
“Today, we won’t just break ground on a building — we break ground on new possibilities, new hope and new futures for our women and our families.”
The federal and provincial governments and the MMF all provided funding to the $8.5-million project. About $4.3 million came from Canada’s National Housing Strategy, with $3.4 million coming from the MMF and $880,000 from the province.
Manitoba Housing Minister Bernadette Smith, who is Métis, said there was “no hesitation” within her department to spend $630,000 on the project. She said supports like these would have helped her heal from a violent and abusive first relationship.
“When I was looking to get out of that relationship, there wasn’t a lot of supports. When I did find those supports, it was folks that helped lift me up, that helped support and get me back into school that helped me on a road of transformation,” Smith said.
“When I look at this project … I just think of all these families that are going to be going through here and the cycles that are going to be broken and the lives that are going to be changed.”
About two in three Métis women have experienced violent victimization — defined as physical or sexual assault — in their lifetime, according to Statistics Canada data.
Gender Equity and Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said her department is spending $250,000 to help furnish the apartments during the first phase of the project, hinting the province will also be a partner in the next phase.
Details on that phase are not yet available, she said.
Federal Northern and Arctic Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand said the upcoming facility is a “step toward something better — a safer, more supportive future for Red River Métis women and families.”
“It’s a place to recover and start again after facing violence and hardship,” Chartrand said.
