Feds announce $5M in funding for Makwa Waakaa’igan project

Mental Health and Addictions Minister Ya’ara Saks has announced $5 million in funding for the Makwa Waakaa’igan project at Algoma University as part of a brief stopover in Sault Ste. Marie Monday.  

The funding, provided through the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage over the course of four fiscal years, was originally announced by the university late last year. 

When finished, the $43.3-million, three-storey cultural centre will be home to the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre archives and will house a new Mental Health and Addictions Research and Training Institute in partnership with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine University (NOSM University). It’s anticipated the new facility will open its doors sometime in 2027.  

“Not only is the work being anchored by research and evidence-based practices, but a deep understanding that that needs to include culturally appropriate practices that meets the community and their needs,” Saks told reporters Monday. “In order to heal, you have to see yourself on the journey of healing, and I think this specific site and the work Algoma has been doing for generations — but particularly now, with the announcement today of $5 million towards the facility — is that they’re really bringing together traditional healing with evidence-based practices so that we see a whole person, but also a whole community that is really trying to fight against the opioid crisis.”

Earlier this year, statistics from the Office of the Chief Coroner revealed the opioid toxicity mortality rate in the Algoma Public Health region was 11.5 deaths per 100,000 in the third quarter of 2023 — nearly three times the provincial average. 

“What was important for me today in coming to the Sault and really meeting with the incredible people who are on the front lines of this is that these aren’t numbers. These are people, these are families, these are communities,” Saks said. “There is a tremendous amount of stigma being thrown around by certain leaders in this country that are turning communities in on themselves and away from those who need our help.

“What I was struck by here is a firm commitment by this community to not look away, to do the work — they know the work that needs to be done and they’re prepared to do it, and they’re prepared to work with us federally to save lives, and to make sure that every tool is available to save lives."

Algoma University President Asima Vezina says the post-secondary institution continues to have conversations with NOSM University with respect to the overall development of the Mental Health and Addictions Research and Training Institute and how the forthcoming school will benefit the north.  

“Our goal is to have people graduating from Algoma — practitioners in the community being able to come and really look at evidence-based practices that are trauma informed and culturally appropriate, and culturally respectful,” Vezina said. “Our goal is to get treatment into a place where we can be working on prevention — strong prevention — and intervention strategies that make a difference, and can start to help us combat those numbers that we’re experiencing in our community.”

Vezina says the multi-million dollar project has faced a couple of delays as a result of the site search for unmarked burials that’s being led by the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association (CSAA), a group made up of Shingwauk Indian Residential School survivors and their family members.  

The head of the university says the school is working with CSAA, which has been in the process of consulting with the 86 communities that were impacted by the former residential school that operated in Sault Ste. Marie between 1873 and 1970. 

“We’re not expecting any further delays at this point, but one never knows. It’s a complex project,” said Vezina. “We’re continuing to take our lead from community and from those that are closest to the search and respecting what needs to be done, so we ensure this is done in a really good way.”

Once finished, the first floor of the facility will contain an archival space for the residential school system so that records and other items will be preserved in partnership with the survivors group. Some of the space will also be used for cultural events. 

“We have designed it in a way that the community will be welcomed in to use those spaces,” Vezina said. 

With more than $12 million in funding from the federal government currently earmarked for the Makwa Waakaa’igan project, Vezina anticipates there will be more news to come in terms of funding for the facility. 

“The community’s been very generous with Mukwa Waakaa’igan. We’re looking at a couple more announcements in the near future,” she said.

Although the school will have a better sense of the costs once the request for proposals closes, Vezina says, it’s prepared to spend as much as $45 million on the project. 

Algoma University expects to announce the successful bid for construction of the facility as early as next month.