Opaskwayak Cree Nation opens doors to Winnipeg apartment building

The beginning of a new chapter for Opaskway Cree Nation marked with a ribbon cutting. Chief Michael Constance says the launch of the St. Boniface area apartment complex is important in building partnerships between the First Nation and the private sector and a project the community will benefit from for decades to come. We're just laying the foundation for the next generation for championing these kind of projects and it's going to move forward in a good way. The apartment is called La Cour and is located on Marion Street. It has six storeys and 127 mixed-income homes. There's also room for commercial tenants. Winnipeg's mayor says it's another example of a First Nation making an impact in the housing sector. They're producing the results and right now I'm thinking also, you know, on the other side of the city of Winnipeg, on Portage Avenue and St. James, we've got Shoal Lake 40 First Nation. We're working in partnership with a developer building, an apartment building there as well. 52 of the units at La Cour are considered deeply affordable. The discounted apartments. So for one bedrooms, they're in the $800 range, and for a two-bedroom unit, it's in the $1,000 range. So deeply discounted from what you would see for market rents of the same comparable product. I think more needs to be done to bring mixed-income housing and housing in general to the city and to infill areas. Chief Constance says those spaces will be especially helpful for students who may be coming to Winnipeg from Manitoba's north and beyond. Coming into an urban center, it's hard to find residents and hard to find... Living areas, so affordable, it will be open to the market for university students, college students, because we want everybody to succeed. The total cost of the project was just under $40 million, which included help from all levels of government. Gavin Axelrod, CBC News, Winnipeg.