Six Nations Elected Council approved for the Iroquois Lodge long-term care home to begin its redevelopment project this week.

The architecture and designing of the redevelopment project has been tendered to HDR Architecture and Associates Inc. in the amount of $1,883,000 for their involvement in the design and management of the project, plus a 10 percent contingency in the amount of $188,300.

Iroquois Lodge is a 50-bed long-term care home in Ohsweken serving Six Nations members. They provide 24-hour nursing and personal care as well as a number of other services to support Six Nations residents. The renovations are being done to enhance the current space and to ensure that the community seniors living in the facility are receiving the care that they need. Six Nations Health Services (SNHS) says the the facility improvements are "long overdue."

SNHS are hoping to have the renovations to Iroquois Lodge done by fall of 2024 when, at that time, it is projected that the Ministry of Long-Term Care compliance issues will be completed.

Janet Gasparelli, SNHS Portfolio Lead for Family and Community Care, says that the funds allocated for the designing have been sourced internally from the Health & Finance department and are all deferred funds from previous fiscal years.

"The approximate $2 million that we're requesting is all going to be deferred funds within the department as well as some funds from central (administration) and the exact amounts from each location, we're still figuring out, which is why it's not clearly outlined in the briefing note, so it's all internal funds," she said. "It's funds that we would've had for previous fiscals (years) that weren't used. So we're not taking from current year dollars to re-allocate them to the build."

She said that SNHS still need to determine where the funds for the construction will come from, but says the organization is looking into different funding options.

"We still need to determine where those funds are going to come from. We have submitted the application to the Ministry (of Long-Term Care) for redevelopment funds. We already know that what we get from the Ministry isn't going to cover everything. They're really only going to cover the bare bones," she said. " We're looking at a few different options in terms of looking at different capital grants, fundraising and then also what we get from the ministry."

But Gasparelli stressed to SNEC that the redevelopment funds from the Ministry of Long Term-Care will not be paid back until after residents begin using the facility, so upfront capital to fund the project is still needed to begin the construction phase.

The designing phase was approved by SNEC during the June 5 general finance meeting. HDR Architecture and Associates Inc. will begin the designing process for the redevelopment project.

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