Feds invest $7.5 million in community, tourism projects in Hamilton and area

The federal government has announced a $7.5 million investment in more than two dozen community infrastructure and tourism projects across the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

The money from the Canada Community Revitalization Fund and the Tourism Relief Fund will go toward 31 projects across Hamilton, Halton, Haldimand-Norfolk, and Brant.

Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas MP and FedDev Ontario Minister Filomena Tassi made the announcement on Monday at the Dundas Valley School of Art, which is getting a non-repayable grant of $54,000 for a butterfly and native species garden in front of the Ogilvie Street school.

Kathron Hann, the school’s acting executive director and director of business operations, said the garden is a longtime dream that they’ve constantly had to defer due to a lack of available funding.

“I’ve been here five years and it was a dream before I got here,” she said.

“Because we’re in an older facility, the needs pile up … so having the garden, yes, it was a dream, but a dream that we knew we would have to defer. And when this opportunity came from the federal government, it was just a dream come true.”

The three-season garden will be stocked with native plants that will support pollinators like butterflies and bees and is expected to be installed sometime this spring.

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Overall about $4 million of the funding will go specifically to Hamilton organizations, according to Tassi, including another non-repayable allotment of $75,000 to improve accessibility and energy efficiency at the Workers Arts and Heritage Centre, which is based inside the historic Custom House on Stuart Street.

The Art Gallery of Hamilton will receive $750,000 to enhance the lobby and make the museum more accessible.

There will also be enhancements at the YMCA and YWCA – $560,000 will go toward repairing the roof and replacing the windows at the YMCA, while the YWCA will receive $570,000 to create a drop-in space that will accommodate vulnerable women and will remain open for overnight stays.

Tassi said FedDev opened up an additional tourism relief fund because they saw how impactful government investments were for the sector during the pandemic and she said they will announce in the near future which organizations have been awarded the remainder of that funding.

It’s unclear whether more grants and investments of that nature will be made available in the future and Tassi said that’s ultimately up to the minister of finance.

“We want to be fiscally prudent, of course, but at the same time, we want to make the investments that are going to lead to economic growth,” she said. “And we know that we have so much ability, talent, and potential here that we have to be very targeted in those investments.”