ManitobaAn emergency safe space with a number of beds where Indigenous women at risk of violence, homelessness or exploitation can stay for up to two days and access community services is expected to open next year in Winnipeg.Manitoba investing $3.5 million to open 24/7 facility with 8 beds, counselling servicesCBC News · Posted: Oct 02, 2025 2:10 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoManitoba’s provincial government is providing $3.5 million in funding to build Mino’Ayaawag Ikwewag Lodge, a safe space for Indigenous women in Winnipeg that is expected to open in the summer of 2026. (Josh Crabb/CBC)An emergency safe space with eight beds, where Indigenous women at risk of violence, homelessness or exploitation can stay for up to two days and access community services, is expected to open next year in Winnipeg. “We are creating a space that will literally save lives,” Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine told reporters at the announcement on Thursday. “Indigenous women can walk through the doors and immediately find safety, dignity and support.” Construction of the 24/7 safe space that will be known as Mino’Ayaawag Ikwewag Lodge is breaking ground with a $3.5-million investment from Manitoba’s provincial government. Women will be able to access the space by referral and stay for up to 48 hours.A facility like Mino’Ayaawag Ikwewag Lodge has been needed for decades, and the province hopes it can open to the public at 510 Selkirk Ave. next summer, Fontaine said. “The Mino’Ayaawag Ikwewag Lodge is not a shelter proper,” the minister said. “This lodge will serve as a bridge, a soft hand-off helping women to connect to [a] broader web of supports.” Mino’Ayaawag Ikwewag Lodge will have eight beds for Indigenous women, who will be able to stay at the centre for up to 48 hours and access community support services. (Josh Crabb/CBC)”It is about building trust, walking alongside women and ensuring they are supported every step of the way in their healing.” The safe space will expand system capacity by reducing barriers to receiving trauma-informed culturally grounded care. It will be the foundation of a provincial strategy, also called Mino’Ayaawag Ikwewag, which means “All women doing well,” launched to weave a network of support for Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people, Fontaine said. The province promises to fund the centre’s operation as well as its construciton.Counselling, cultural wellness spaces and cultural support will be offered at the lodge. There will also be a mobile transportation service to access the facility and a crisis response line, a news release from the province said. Manitoba is partnering with Ikwe Widdjiitiwin Inc., an Indigenous-led crisis shelter for survivors and victims of gender-based violence, for the project. “Women can come as they are and be held with compassion, without judgment, day or night,” said Kim Fontaine, Ikwe Widdjiitiwin’s executive director.”This safe space is a part of a larger movement to not only address the harm but to build pathways forward … a space where healing is one more way we say ‘No more stolen sisters.'”With files from Josh Crabb
New emergency safe space for Indigenous women to open in Winnipeg next year
