Residents of Montreal's Parc-Extension and Saint-Michel districts will have access to three new modern, accessible and environmentally-friendly community centres thanks to an investment of over $33.7 million from the federal government.
Announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and MP Patricia Lattanzio, these projects will benefit the community by addressing the lack of community spaces in the targeted neighbourhoods, helping to foster social inclusion.
More specifically, two new community centres will be built to carbon-neutral standards, providing residents of Parc-Extension and Saint-Michel with quality meeting places that will help strengthen the sense of belonging of many immigrants and visible minorities in these neighborhoods.
The Parc-Extension Community Centre is a major cross-cutting project that responds to a community need. This multi-generational carbon-neutral centre will be a place for meeting, exchanging, learning and leisure, integrating community resources to strengthen the neighborhood's social fabric. The building will include a variety of multi-purpose spaces such as meeting rooms, common areas, a gym, a community kitchen, offices for local organizations and a rooftop community garden.
The Parc-Extension Community Centre will help promote inclusion, accessibility and environmental sustainability, while enhancing the quality of life for neighborhood residents.
The three-storey Saint-Michel Community House will be home to numerous local community organizations, serving the needs of citizens of all ages. The carbon-neutral building will feature, among other things, an industrial kitchen, as well as a multifunctional room accessible to both resident organizations and members of the public wishing to hold activities there.
Today's investment will also provide the community organization Afrique au féminin with a new home at 805 rue Durocher in Montreal. Renovations will include the construction of a third floor, an extension to the north side of the building, a green roof, new windows, improved insulation, and the installation of modern mechanical and electrical systems to ensure occupant comfort. The paved areas will also be transformed into green spaces.
This new location will enable the organization to serve the residential, low-income population of northern Parc-Extension, which lacks community resources.
The Green and Inclusive Community Buildings (GICB) program aims to improve the places Canadians work, learn, play, live and come together by cutting pollution, reducing costs, and supporting thousands of good jobs.
Through green and other upgrades to existing public community buildings and new builds in underserved communities, the GICB program helps ensure community facilities are inclusive, accessible, and have a long service life, while also helping Canada move towards its net-zero objectives by 2050.
