It’s been 15 years in the works, but construction will soon start on a $120-million community centre in Martindale.

More funding for the facility arrived Wednesday when the minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada announced the federal government is contributing $15 million.

The federal money comes from the Enabling Accessibility Fund, which gives money to projects that improve accessibility.

“All programs — recreational, fitness, educational and cultural — offered at the centre will be available to everyone, regardless of ability, age, background or economic status,” said Diane Finley, the minister of Human Resources.

Some of the features of the new centre include visual fire alarms, braille signs and wide power doors that allow wheelchairs to pass.

Named the Genesis Centre of Community Wellness, the facility will offer a one stop shopping of sorts for community programs and services. The 225,000-squarefoot centre will include indoor and outdoor athletic facilities, a library, social services and community gathering places.
“A lot of different things are going to be happening here,” Finley said. “It’s going to become a hub for the whole community.”

Volunteers have worked since the early 1990s to bring the project to fruition. The president of the North East Centre of Community Society, the group spearheading the project, says construction on the facility will likely begin in late spring or early summer.

Carol Steiner said the funding announced Wednesday is conti ngent on the facility meeting accessibility criteria laid out by the federal government. That’s something the project will do.

“We envision a place where people of all backgrounds can come together and be one,” Steiner said. “By coming together to play together, to recreate, to have one place where they can all go, I think will create a community spirit.”

The city has committed $70 million to build the centre. Steiner said the community and YMCA have raised $17. 5 million.

Calgary Northeast MP Devinder Shory said the funding from the federal government dovetails well with commitments to infrastructure spending during the economic downturn.


“Our aim is to make it a worldclass facility; a facility that is open to everyone and accessible to all,” Shory said.