Long-Term Care Home, Better Internet Service for Mi’kmaw Community

Government is supporting families and economic growth in Eskasoni through two cost-shared infrastructure projects - a new 48-bed long-term care home and the installation of fibre optic cable for high-speed internet.

“Having modern infrastructure in place to support residents is an important part of helping communities to thrive,” said Premier Stephen McNeil. “Building a new long-term care home and improving internet service will significantly improve access to services that are critical to the people of Eskasoni for their families and building their economy.”

The Government of Canada is also supporting these initiatives through its Investing in Canada Infrastructure Plan.

The long-term care home will support Mi’kmaw culture, language and traditions and is the first of its kind for Mi’kmaw people. It will be designed in a way that provides space for traditional activities with community and family, worship, and service in Mi’kmaq and English.

“Our new facility will allow us Mi’kmaq to carry on the tradition of caring for our own within our community. It has been our vision to be able to provide care that makes the residents feel comfortable and eliminates barriers such as language,” said Chief Leroy Denny. “This will also be a huge economic driver in our community as it will create much needed new jobs and that is something my council is always striving for.”

The province is contributing up to $6.6 million for the construction of the home, and $19.7 million is coming from the Government of Canada. The home, to be called Kiknu, which means our home in Mi’kmaq, will be owned by Eskasoni.

Construction is expected to begin in 2020.

The province is also investing $835,275 toward the installation of fibre optic internet services to the community. This is in addition to just over $2.5 million from the Government of Canada.

The work will upgrade internet services and make it faster for 1200 homes. Indigenous Nova Scotians will be hired to install, maintain and support the network.

“Having a community where the majority of the population are engaged with technology of the day but have limited access has always been a disadvantage until now,” said Mr. Denny. “Acquiring our own network with access to high speed and a variety of services at affordable prices will bring our community into present day as far as availability.”