The Village is officially open at Canadore College.

The 20-million dollar project received funding from Ottawa, Queen’s Park and several donors.

The 38,000 square foot living learning wellness community focuses on collaborative interprofessional education and the integration of Indigenous, Eastern and Western healing and wellness practices.

The complex integrates seniors’ and community care with teaching, experiential skills training and applied research — all in one facility.

College President George Burton says this is a big day as they’ve been working for 6 years to get here.

“Students are excited about getting training here. It’s about health and wellness but this is a different approach because we want people to live healthier longer lives,” he says.

Burton says a lot of people have heard about The Village project and they’ve received visits from across the country and the U.S.

He says this is just phase 1 that’s open. Phase 2 is expected to break ground in the spring.

Mark Deacon is one of the fundraising committee’s chairs. He says they’ve raised $2.7 million from non government sources. Deacon says this project for a variety of reasons attracted a lot of interest.

“Let’s do something we’ve never done before and let’s do something that’s really going to help. It was this confluence of the reputation of Canadore, innovation and helping at the grass roots,” Deacon says.

The campaign still needs to raise $2.3 million.