The Wiikwemkoong Long Term care Home Capital Campaign 2020-2021 has been officially launched to build a new long-term facility in the community.
Community co-chair, Chief Luke Peltier, says their long-term facility does not meet new design standards implemented by the Ontario government.
He says a feasibility study in 2019 determined retrofitting the home was not an option, so a new facility would have to be built before the current licence expires in 2025.
He adds the home is eligible for some funding supports, but $15-million dollars will have to be raised locally.
Peltier says a letter-writing campaign to governments is underway and a strategic plan is being drawn up to help find supporting partners and plans put in place for fundraising events to be held over the next one to two years.