New housing available for Cowessess seniors

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Seniors from Cowessess First Nation now have access to housing on reserve designed to meet their specific needs, thanks to the construction of a new senior's lodge fourplex.

The official opening of the fourplex was held Feb. 1, with Chief Terrence R. Pelletier and housing and infrastructure portfolio counsellors Gary W. Pelletier and Grady Lerat taking part in opening celebrations.

Henry S. Delorme gave the opening prayer to start the celebrations, and cut the ribbon to officially open the lodge.

Everette Thompson of Nelson Homes, the company that designed the fourplex, also took part in the opening, as did Barry Sparvier, chairman of Cowessess First Nation's Treaty Land Entitlement.

The fourplex project, with an estimated cost of $310,000, was funded through the band's Treaty Land Entitlement and the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada's Innovative Housing Fund, as well as by band capital.

The new fourplex features four self-contained units designed for independent seniors, each with a single bedroom, a living room and dinning room area. Two of the four units have been designed to be wheelchair accessible.

The fourplex also boasts a common area with a kitchen area, providing the seniors living in the fourplex with an area to hold gatherings and events without having to leave the building.

Garry Lerat was the site manager for the senior's lodge project. He said construction of the building began last June, and was finished up at the end of December.

All construction on the building was done by members of the band, except for the electrical and plumbing, which was done by local contractors. All told, about 12 people from the band worked on the construction project, Lerat said.

Among those involved in construction of the lodge were Holloway & Son, who did the plumbing and heating, and Jack Hosler from Wolseley Electric. Band members involved in the project included Ernest Lavallee who did the flooring, Grady Lerat from Grade EZ Roofing & Renovations who did the roofing, and Bryan Delorme who did the gyproc. Gerald Henry began the contract for electrical, but was unable to complete the project due to ill health.

The fourplex was built between the community education centre and an existing subdivision in order to take advantage of the services already in place in the area.

One of the interesting features of the senior's lodge is that it was built to accommodate future expansion, with the power supply for the building able to accommodate a lodge double the size of the existing facility, which now sits at just under 4,000 sq. ft.

"They can add to both ends or they can add to the back. It's designed so if they need more, they don't have to build a whole new building, they can just add a couple on each end," explained Ted Goodnough, First Nations sales manager for Nelson Homes. Goodnough's company provided the package for the lodge, and Nelson Construction, the construction arm of the firm, was general contractor for the project.

"For myself, I've been building homes for about 10 years. This is the biggest project I've taken on, in both working capacity and contract as well," Lerat said, adding that the fourplex project is also the biggest construction project the band has taken on using only local workers.

"The main gist of the whole project was there was a lot of our Elders that are living in urban centres that needed a place to come to if they felt very alone in some of the places that they were staying at," explained band councillor Grady Lerat. "And coming from our reserve, the chief and council decided that we should try to do something for these individuals so that they can move home and spend some of their remaining days at least back on the reserve."

"For us it is quite a great thing, because now we have at least four spots that some of the Elders in our urban centres can move home to that may not have had an opportunity to move home before."

Applications are being accepted from senior's interested in movin into the fourplex, and individuals living off reserve that have expressed interest in moving home in the past have been notified. Once the applications are in, the housing board will "sit down and assess who is going to get what," Grady Lerat explained.

"So it's going to be hard, because I know that we're probably looking at a lot more individuals than we have capacity for. So it's going to be a very, very hard thing to do, to turn other Elders of our community away, and have others move in. It's going to be a trying time, but it's four spots rather than nothing."

"It's a project that is well worth it, and I hope to try and expand on it in the next few years, if I'm capable . . . I can see nothing but good things."

For information about how to apply for tenancy of the new seniors' lodge, call the Cowessess First Nation housing and infrastructure department at 306-696-2275, or write to P.O. Box 100, Cowessess, SK S0G 5L0.