For six years, Winston Delorme has advocated for his people to have a space to age safely and comfortably.

Delorme, who is Rocky Mountain Cree and a councillor for the Municipal District of Greenview in northwest Alberta, watched as community members aged into institutions where their Indigenous roots were not reflected, resulting in culture shock.

“All of a sudden now he wasn’t in his community and he ended up passing away, not in his community,” Delorme said about the experience of a particular elder.

“Even though he couldn’t communicate because there was dementia, he still knew that he wasn’t home.”

Now, Kikinow Elders Lodge has officially opened its doors, giving Indigenous elders in the Grande Cache area a place to live out their days surrounded by their culture.

As the board chair for the Evergreens Foundation, a not-for-profit housing management body for seniors, Delorme got to work with the organization’s chief administrative officer, Kristen Chambers, to secure funding for the lodge, which came with one major challenge.

‘Everything about it is Indigenous’

The Aseniwuche Winewak Nation and the Mountain Métis are non-status communities, meaning they lack federal recognition under the Indian Act. The two groups, which were among those that saw families be evicted from Jasper National Park in the early 20th century, never signed treaties with the Crown, Delorme explained.

“The project was not quite Indigenous enough,” said Chambers, to unlock a federal funding stream for Indigenous projects through the affordable housing fund and co-investment funding.

“[It took] two years of work to get that box checked off that we were Indigenous enough to receive funding from that program,” Delorme said.

“Everything about it is Indigenous.”

Chambers called the funding breakthrough “monumental” because it sets a precedent for other non-status communities trying to access federal housing resources.

With financing secured — $2.5 million from the provincial government and $8.6 million in federal grants — Kikinow Elders Lodge was built on the Victor Lake Co-op, one of six Indigenous co-operatives and enterprises in the Grande Cache area.

When Chambers first stood amongst the trees and looked at the view, she said she realized why building the Kikinow Elders Lodge meant so much to the community. 

“There’s a magic about this place,” she said.

“I did not want [Kikinow] to feel like an institution,” said Delorme.

The crescent moon shape creates a continuity throughout the lodge without sharp, angled walls. Fit with a smudging room, teepee and plans for a smokehouse, Kikinow means “our home” in Cree.

‘Life is all about healing’

The lodge isn’t just built differently. It also operates differently than other Evergreens Foundation projects.

“One of the elders said to me, ‘Actually, we want to wake up and let the day happen to us. We don’t want to be scheduled,’” said Chambers. “So the pace is a lot different here.”

One of five elders already living at the lodge is Raybear Delorme, who moved from the nearby Whispering Pines Lodge.  He is a first cousin to Winston Delorme.

Raybear said he grew up hunting on the trapline. He said moving into the Kikinow Elders Lodge last month was a long time coming.

“I feel secure and safe and, you know, nothing to worry about,” said Raybear. “And it relieves me. … I could be who I am and do what I do.

“I struggled before, and then now I love getting up and I love sharing my tradition.”

Kikinow Elders Lodge is especially important, said Winston Delorme, given what elders like Raybear and their ancestors have gone through.

“We’re all survivors. … We’re still here even though there’s been numerous attempts to try and push us even out of this area,” said Winston Delorme, referencing the establishment of the town of Grande Cache when coal was discovered there in the late 1960s.

Winston Delorme’s hope for the new lodge is that it will be a gathering place for the community to talk with and listen to elders, to visit and share jokes.

“This community has survived,” he said. “This is for them to feel safe. This is for them to feel that they mean something. This is for them to feel heard.”