Boyle Street Community Services (BSCS) is inching closer to opening its brand new service centre that will support thousands of people in Edmonton.
In a few months, okimaw peyesew kamik — in English, the Cree name translates to King Thunderbird Centre — near 107A Avenue and 101 Street will be completely transformed, as construction now is halfway done.
“This is a project that has been almost a decade in us trying to find a purpose-built facility for our community,” said Aidan Inglis, director of okimaw peyesew kamik programs and partnerships, with Boyle Street.
Construction at the 75,000-square-foot facility has been underway since 2023.
BSCS has been out of a permanent home since September 2023, when it vacated its former space on 105 Avenue beside Rogers Place.
Since then, services and staff have operated in five different spots, although the majority of the organization’s programs shifted to operate out of the Bissell Centre East, a couple blocks away at 105 Avenue and 96 Street, along with the Mercer Building and a Co-lab near 96 Street and 102A Avenue.
Boyle Street is now preparing to offer services to around 7,000 people a year — whether it’s for mental health and addiction, ID and financial services, housing referrals or other supports.
Okimaw peyesew kamik is better suited for all of that.
“In our past building… it was an old banana ripening factory, so it wasn’t quite equipped for the work that we wanted to do. It didn’t have windows, it didn’t have a ceremonial space,” said deputy executive director Krysta Fitzgerald.
The new facility will have those things, as well as outdoor spaces, a sweat lodge, showers and kitchens.
With the focus on healing, the centre will feature care dens and cultural rooms as staff say 70 per cent of its clients identify as Indigenous.
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“People looking to heal and that’s a very broad word. But there’s a lot of different ways in which we know that we’ll be able to support people in doing that,” said Inglis.
“It starts with feeling like you belong.”
For people experiencing homelessness like Eugene Bernard, they say that is a key factor in improving services in Edmonton.
“The need to feel like you’re welcome, not like you’re just another number,” said Bernard.
King Thunderbird Centre was originally set to open in late 2024. The target was then pushed back to this June, and show Boyle Street hopes to offer that by the fall.
“This building is a symbol of working together and what we can do for the most vulnerable in our city,” said Fitzgerald.
BSCS bought the property at 107A Avenue and 101 Street in 2021 with a $10 million gift from the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation.
Last spring, the federal government provided a $21-million grant through the Green and Inclusive Community Buildings program. The new centre will be energy-efficient.
Boyle Street is also contributing $24 million through its capital campaign.
The total project is expected to cost about $49.5 million.
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