Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre shelter closing at the end of the year

The Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre's homeless shelter will be shutting down at the end of the year.

The North Park Street operation opened in January and currently offers 40 beds, with priority given to Indigenous people.

According to an internal memo sent to staff from executive director Pam Glode Desrochers, the lease for the location is up on December 31 and a new one hasn't been signed. She adds the organization also doesn't have funding secured for 2022.

However staff say the announcement of the closure came shortly after they submitted a union application to the Nova Scotia Labour Board.

“It is impossible for us to accept that this hasty decision to eliminate our jobs and close the shelter is not related to our decision to form a union,” said Rosalie Hyslop, a shelter case manager, in a news release,

All employee contracts will end at the end of the month.

“We are shocked and deeply saddened by our employer’s decision to close our shelter in the midst of the worst housing crisis this city has ever experienced,” another shelter case manager, Catherine Hubbard, said.

“Keeping this shelter open, specifically during winter months, is of the utmost importance to us,” added shelter case manager Brent Cosgrove. “The staff and clients of this shelter deserve better and we are calling for urgent support.”

Glode Desrochers said the centre will be spending January and February restructuring and revamping safety policies “to ensure staff members feel supported and work on a communications policy.”

“There will be new job descriptions and we will work to ensure that this project is working within the existing structure of the society,” she added.