WINNIPEG – The Neeginan Centre in Winnipeg is getting infrastructure upgrades after an investment of more than $21.1 million from the federal government.
The Neeginan Centre, a hub in downtown Winnipeg that provides programs and services to support the educational, social and economic needs of Indigenous people, was incorporated in 1990 and operates in the historic Canadian Pacific Railway Station located at Higgins and Main, a release said.
“Thirty-two years ago, a group of leaders of not-for-profit Indigenous organizations and their stakeholders, took an extraordinary risk to restore and renovate Winnipeg’s historic Canadian Pacific Railway Station into a one-stop centre where the organizations could deliver services to their Indigenous clients in a much more efficient and coordinated manner — and — from a ‘place of their own,’” Neeginan Centre board of directors chairperson William Shead said.
“From the outset this building has benefited from the joint efforts, co-operation, and friendship between Indigenous and non-indigenous peoples who continue to make the centre a better place to serve our communities.”
Work will include upgrades to the building’s envelope, lighting, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems.
The federal government is investing $21.16 million in the project through the Green and Inclusive Community Buildings program, the release said, with the improvements expected to reduce energy consumption by an estimated 29.05 per cent and greenhouse gas emissions by 225.18 tonnes annually.