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Green infrastructure funding awarded to two NWT projects

A rendering of Fort McPherson's proposed cultural wellness centre as uploaded to the Teetl'it Gwich'in Band Council's Facebook page
A rendering of Fort McPherson's proposed cultural wellness centre as uploaded to the Teetl'it Gwich'in Band Council's Facebook page.

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$12.5 million in federal funding will support what Ottawa termed “green infrastructure projects” in Inuvik and Fort McPherson.

Inuvik receives around $5.5 million to upgrade the town’s Midnight Sun Complex with solar panels and a battery bank, reducing the facility’s carbon footprint.

In a news release, NWT MP Michael McLeod said the investment would save $13 million in energy costs over 25 years.

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Fort McPherson receives $7 million to help build a net-zero cultural wellness centre. The Teetl’it Gwich’in Band Council said on Facebook the facility would be “the first net-zero building in Fort McPherson and in the Mackenzie Delta.”

“We hope to be the model for other Indigenous communities to follow,” the council wrote.

Chief Wanda Pascal of the Teetl’it Gwich’in Band stated the centre will be “a place to share and pass on knowledge, deliver educational workshops, and be a gathering place to preserve our cultural and traditional history.”