Today, on behalf of the Honourable Bill Blair, Minister of National Defence, Parliamentary Secretary Marie-France Lalonde led a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Military Family Resource Centre at 4th Canadian Division Support Base (CDSB) Petawawa. The $42 million facility will consolidate the Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services Personnel Support Programs and Military Family Resource Centre from seven separate locations into a single facility for family support and wellness on the base. This project will sustain approximately 130 jobs during the construction phase and is expected to be completed in Fall 2026.
The centre will provide a family-focused community hub featuring modern offices and recreation spaces to deliver high-quality and more efficient counselling, family services, and programming. There will also be daycare services on site for approximately 160 children. Daycare, among other services, will be relocated from seven existing locations on the base that are currently at capacity, allowing for more accessible, integrated, and better-coordinated services for military families at Petawawa. It will also consolidate military family support services, improve coordination of these services, and make them more accessible for military families, while providing modern workspaces for about 90 personnel.
This facility will be net-zero ready and built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver standards, which will contribute to the federal government's target of being carbon neutral by 2050. The Department of National Defence has reduced greenhouse gas emissions from its buildings and non-military vehicles by 35.9% across Canada, compared with 2005 levels.
