The Doig River First Nation is among 14 groups receiving more than $2 million to expand their local services in northern B.C.
Doig River is receiving $98,000 from the Northern Healthy Communities Fund to support a Tsaa Natsadle Programs Manager position, the province announced Thursday.
With the funding, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs said families and young people will be able to use early childhood and youth programming through the new Dane che' adliih de' kwa centre.
“Our government is supporting the building blocks of healthy, sustainable and resilient communities by boosting the services people count on, like child care, health, mental health and addictions counselling, and small business recruitment,” said Minister Josie Osborne in a statement.
It’s the first round of funding announced from the Northern Healthy Communities Fund.
The province earlier this year earmarked $25 million over five years to help communities near the Coastal GasLink and LNG Canada projects improve access to services such as child care and mental health.
The fund is open to 22 local governments and 27 First Nations, along with non-profit organizations that provide services to those communities. Grants are available through two streams: one to increase capacity of services and one to fund capital projects.
Northern Development Trust is administering the program and the funds will be disbursed quarterly through a series of intakes over five years.
Overall, 16 projects were funded in the first round, including $100,000 for a family wellness program at the Nawican Friendship Centre in Dawson Creek, and $120,000 for facility upgrades to Nawican’s emergency temporary shelter.
"We applaud the Province's recognition of the importance of building and maintaining healthy communities, especially in areas seeing fast and extensive growth," said NDIT CEO Joel McKay. "These initial 16 projects offer immensely valuable services that really reflect the intention of the fund."
The program is now accepting applications for the next round of funding to be announced this summer.
Email Managing Editor Matt Preprost at editor@ahnfsj.ca.
