Wiikwemkoong is building new five-bedroom "grandmothers' homes" to keep families together and support reunification. Grandmother Alison Recollet shares how her new home provides space for her grandchildren to return and long-term care for her grandson Jonathan.
WIIKWEMKOONG—Three new five-bedroom homes are taking shape near the Buzwah borderline, entering Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, built with something more compelling than walls and windows in mind: the way 91˵s families sometimes have to stretch, bend and gather themselves back together when life-altering circumstances threaten to pull the fabric of their families apart.
For Grandmother Alison Recollet, one of the women who will soon move into one of those homes, the meaning of it can be summed up in a phrase that reaches far beyond housing.
“No matter how the children can come and go, depending on what’s going on with their family, I’m the centre home fire for everybody there.”
A home fire. The place that remains lit. The place where children can return. The place where there is always room for one more.
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