Public Notice

York Factory First Nation AWASIS (Child and Family) Office Building – Public Comments Invited

May 11, 2026 – The Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) must determine whether the proposed York Factory First Nation AWASIS (Child and Family) Office Building, located in York Factory First Nation is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.

To help inform this determination, the Indigenous Services Canada is inviting comments from the public respecting that determination. All comments received will be considered public and may be posted online.

Written comments must be submitted by June 10, 2026 to:

Indigenous Services Canada
200 - 365 Hargrave Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3B 3A3
431-334-6471
ayonniyi.dehinbo@sac-isc.gc.ca

 

The Proposed Project

The York Factory First Nation Child and Family Prevention Project provides a variety of cultural, meeting, office and support spaces to deliver services to the community in a culturally appropriate building of 1,356sm, centrally located in the community. The main cultural spaces consist of a 70sm Circle Room to accommodate up to 25 persons, a 153sm Multi-Purpose Program Room to accommodate 80-100 persons, and a 75sm Teaching Kitchen. These large cultural spaces along with smaller meeting spaces for staff to meet with clients and related support space, are all located on the main floor. Staff offices and three "hotel" style suites for visiting professionals are located on a partial second floor. The two storey Program Room separates the AWASIS office facilities from the Circle Room facilities, with each accessed by a separate entrance that also provides access to a shared Lobby that leads to the Circle Room and Program Room. The building has been designed to CSA B651/52 Accessibility standards and an elevator has been provided to the second floor. The building has been designed for future expansion at either end and can accommodate an additional 280sm (or more). The site is approximately 1/2 hectare in size (4650sm) with 31 parking stalls, a detached, heated garage of 77sm and covered storage for vehicles and equipment. An exterior terrace of 63sm is accessible from the Program Room and in close proximity to the Kitchen. Given the proposed building systems and assuming regular operations and maintenance procedures, we would expect the building lifespan to be in the range of 25-30 years.

Size/Footprint of structures and associated physical works (square meters): 1,356sm main building plus 77sm heated detached garage and 1,190sm of site development (parking, roadways and exterior terrace).

Cultural considerations considered during site selection, design, construction, and facility operations
The site is centrally located in a forest setting on recently cleared land that the community us developing for this and other uses.. The convenient and familiar location combined with the connection to the forest were considered culturally relevant. The building concept design places emphasis on the importance of the main
cultural spaces consisting of the 70sm Circle Room and the 153sm Multi-Purpose Room. The circular form of the Circle Room is joined to the two storey rectangular "office" block at the location of the large Program Room by a lobby space which connects these two important cultural spaces and also acts as a Pre-Function and break out space for both. The Program Room is visually connected to a proposed outdoor terrace and the forest beyond. There are several opportunities both within and on the exterior of the building to introduce indigenous artifacts, motifs, murals etc. which will be explored with the community during the design phase of the project.

The project is funded by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT41) Program.