NS, Ottawa pour in millions for new Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Center

Pam Glode Desrochers looked back at the two posters depicting designs for the new Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Center and sighed.

“We did it,” Glode Desrochers said Tuesday. “We really did it.”

The executive director of the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Center noted that the new construction to replace the friendship center’s old home on Gottingen Street in Halifax is not new news.

But on Tuesday, the federal government announced it would contribute $5 million to the project, while the county government would contribute another $10 million.

Glode Desrochers said the latest government funding brings the total amount raised to $49 million — $38.8 million of which was contributed by the FBI.

While they have yet to raise some private money, Glode Desrochers said they are one step closer to starting construction on the new building – something some people didn’t believe would happen.

“I was once told to stick to what I know and that ‘this will never happen’, ‘you’re crazy’, ‘it never will be’,” Glode Desrochers recalls.

“I won’t lie, as discouraged as I was at the time, it actually made me a little more determined.”

But Glode Desrochers knew a new building was something she had to push for, as the friendship center’s former home on Göttingen Street continued to deteriorate.

She recalled trekking up to the roof on stilettos with a bucket of tar in hand to fill the gaps in the roof in an attempt to keep the rain from pouring into the reception area.

And while the friendship center has since moved into a large office space on Brunswick Street, Glode Desrochers recognized that the new building will offer so much more than their current space.

“I know everyone will see it as bricks and mortar, but it’s a living, breathing building,” she said. “It will have community in the soul of that building and the heart of that building and it will help save lives for future generations.”

The Friendship Center, which has provided services and support to urban Indigenous peoples for more than 50 years, currently offers more than 60 programs, including job training, adult education, housing support, and mental health and addiction services.

The new construction includes areas to offer those programs and services, as well as a ceremonial space, a place for sacred fire, classrooms, a storefront, and a café.

Glode Desrochers said people from all over Canada — Indigenous and non-Indigenous — walk through the doors of the friendship center seeking support and services.

Halifax MP Andy Fillmore said the announcement couldn’t come at a better time as the North American Indigenous Games kicks off July 15 in Nova Scotia.

The North American Indigenous Games will feature more than 5,000 participants from more than 750 Indigenous nations.

“We have exciting news to share with the world about the future of the Friendship Center and what is possible when we prioritize the needs of our Indigenous communities,” said Fillmore.

Final design for Phase 1 of the friendship center is expected to be completed by the end of September, with construction expected to begin in spring 2024.

While unused land remains as part of Phase 1, Glode Desrochers said it will not be lost.

“We’re growing and we’re continuing to grow, so somehow I don’t think the unused land behind us that is part of us is going to sit unused for very long,” she said.