Moncton council ratified a funding agreement on Tuesday night, giving “Project 1010” the green light to lease the bottom floor of the old Wawanesa Insurance building on St. George Boulevard from Rising Tide, which is planning to turn the other two floors into senior apartment units.
“We were elated. We clapped like crazy,” said Sandra Wallace with Project 1010. “There was not enough room for all the seniors who were in attendance in the chambers, so they set up chairs in the main foray of city hall and there weren’t enough chairs, so they had to bring in more chairs.”
Moncton’s previous seniors centre, located at the Moncton Lions Community Centre, was re-purposed in 2022 into a shelter and resource hub for the unhoused.
“Two-and-a-half years ago we were sort of pushed into a corner of saving people’s lives by giving the centre for a treatment facility and rehab cold centre and when we did that we had a temporary solution for the seniors and that became less of a temporary,” explained Councillor Daniel Bourgeois.
He says the Project 1010 group approached council several months ago asking for funding help to lease the space and give seniors a permanent centre once again.
Bourgeois says both himself and Councillor Shawn Crossman tried putting a motion forward that would return the previous centre to the seniors, but it didn’t work.
“The seniors have been very vocal,” he said. “They want a centre. In addition to decentralized programs, activities throughout the city, they also needed a central meeting place or something that would be able to gather all of their troops together, so this became available, the timing was right, the funding arrangement was right for council, I can’t speak on behalf of council, but from my perspective all the stars were aligned with this project.”
Wallace says the group asked for $1.1 million to cover a 20-year lease and another $689,000 for renovations and supplies.
It was first discussed during a closed-meeting with councillors earlier this month before being ratified on April 22 during the public session.
“We had about maybe 14-15 conditions,” said Bourgeois. “For instance, they have to be self-sufficient within five years, they have to work out a deal obviously with Rising Tide, they have to be incorporated.”
Wallace says plans are already drawn up for the new 10,000 square-foot space, which is expected to include things like a bridge, card and computer room as well as a human library, where seniors can talk to other members of the community about their history and culture and a wellness hub.
While the plan is to move quickly, she says nothing will happen until they can hold several town halls with other seniors and seniors groups to make sure their vision is right for everyone.
“One of the greatest needs for this demographic is loneliness, so they need to socialize together,” she said. “It doesn’t mean that there aren’t all kinds of activities in our great city of Moncton, but what it does mean is they need to be together, to have coffee together, to play cards together.”
Wallace does say there will be a membership fee, but doesn’t know how much it will cost or what it will look like yet, but she says it will be reasonable.
The goal is to be able to set up a Christmas tree in the new centre this year.
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