Long Plain First Nation has recently announced plans for the construction of a Wellness and Education Centre at the First Nation.

Chief Dennis Meeches says the Centre will be located near Long Plain School and will support a variety of wellness and education initiatives, including Jordan's Principle, Dakota Ojibway Child Family Services and Long Plain Education.

"I think it will be a great asset to Long Plain," says Meeches.

He outlines the components of the facility.

"There will be additional classroom space, an Elders' centre portion, we'll have industrial arts, home economics. We'll have a garden, a green house, a fitness centre and an equine, assisted learning or activity centre."

The estimated cost of the project is $3.4 million and Meeches says it will be financed internally. He says there has been a lot of interest from members of the First Nation for a wellness centre, noting some feel that more investments have been made in the urban reserves than in Long Plain.

"There are some fairly strong reasons for that," Meeches explains. "A lot of the projects that we are doing on our urban reserves are generating strong revenue streams for the Nation and it does make its way back to Long Plain First Nation."

Construction is projected to get underway in the spring of 2021 but Meeches notes some of the infrastructure work could potentially get underway this fall.

You can check out the layout for the Centre as well as FAQs here.