An investment of $1.25 million from the Ontario government will help support the construction of the new hospice. Pictured: Rendering of future hospice. Photo Credit: Six Nations of the Grand River.
The Government of Ontario will be building the first Indigenous hospice in Canada on Six Nations of the Grand River just south of the City of Hamilton.
The hospice will provide palliative care, which includes end-of-life care and support for people facing serious illness and/or death.
An investment of $1.25 million from the Ontario government will help support the construction of the new hospice.
The facility will be located about a 25-minute drive from Hamilton’s southern border.
The province says that the hospice, which will have five beds, “will help Indigenous people and their loved ones connect to comfortable, culturally appropriate and dignified end-of-life care, close to home.”
The current name for the project is the Six Nations of the Grand River Community Hospice.
The province says that it will be the first “Indigenous-led, operated, and on-territory hospice” in the entire country.
All services offered at the facility will incorporate traditional Haudenosaunee teachings.
The province adds that the aim is for all hospice staff to be from First Nations communities, although if that is not possible all non-Indigenous staff will receive cultural sensitivity training on end-of-life traditions and care for Indigenous patients.
Culturally relevant features of the building will include decor that is reflective of Indigenous traditions, sacred spaces for ceremonies, a garden space reflective of traditional medicines, and large spaces to support multiple families being together during end of life.
In terms of services, there will be traditional healers, elders, and Indigenous knowledge keepers in addition to end-of-life nursing and personal support, respite and symptom management, and bereavement workshops.
Six Nations of the Grand River Chief Sherri-Lyn Hill says, “Having our own hospice will be amazing for our members to be taken care of our way.”
“Our members will be able to live out their lives with loved ones and family surrounding them.”
The five new hospice beds are part of 84 new adult beds province-wide that are part of the 2024 Budget.
Once the new hospice opens, it will bring the number of adult and pediatric hospice beds in the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant area to a total of 72.
When construction is complete the Ontario government will also be providing annual operational funding for the hospice.
The Ontario government is investing $147.4 million over three years to expand palliative care in the province, including increasing funding for hospice beds by 45 per cent.
The Government of Ontario also recently provided a $2.5 million contribution to help build the City of Hamilton’s first children’s hospice.
The new Keaton’s House – Paul Paletta Children’s Hospice, to be located next to the Wentworth Lodge long-term care home in Dundas on South Street West, will feature one wing with 10 bedrooms for children needing end-of-life care and one wing for community-based grief and bereavement support services.
In the 10-bedroom wing family members will be able to stay with their child.
The hospice differs from Hamilton’s Ronald McDonald House in that the hospice allows families and child patients to be together in the facility, while the Ronald McDonald House is simply for the families of sick children to stay while their child is at a nearby hospital.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
