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Following eight months of negotiations a new partnership has emerged between the Dryden Native Friendship Centre and Dryden District Senior Services.

DDSS Chair Martin MacKinnon explains the proposed joint project will respond to a gap in urban Indigenous senior support services in the city, with a focus on housing at Patricia Gardens and expand access.

“The CCAC provides us with a name and then says the person has a need to be in our building, they need the services, and we approach the family or that individual to make arrangements to come into our building.”

The partnership announcement comes half a month after an online petition was launched by a group of residents demanding answers over the number of vacant units at Patricia Gardens from administration and the facility’s board of directors, which garnered less than a thousand e-signatures.

Normally the facility which has close to 40 units is priced at market value, however MacKinnon says this will “open up some doors” with rent geared to income residents who needed some help financially to get into the building.

“In the end it came down to we have units that people can use, and if there is a need in the community, then we should be meeting that need.”

Additionally the partnership, according to the DNFC, is an important step in acknowledging recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.