The Ontario government is investing $1.25 million to help build a new five-bed hospice at Six Nations of Grand River.

It will be known as the Six Nations of the Grand River Community Hospice and provincial officials believe it is the first Indigenous-led and operated hospice built on land in Canada.

Services offered will include Haudenosaunee teachings for physical, emotional and spiritual support.

The province said staff will be drawn from First Nations communities or, if that is not possible, non-Indigenous staff will receive cultural sensitivity training regarding end-of-life traditions and practices for Indigenous clients and their families .

“Having our own hospice center will be great for our members to be cared for in our own way,” Chief Sherri-Lyn Hill of Six Nations of the Grand River said in a news release Wednesday. “Our members will be able to live their lives with their loved ones and family around them.”

Once construction is complete, the facility will include sacred spaces for ceremonies, a garden for traditional medicines, and a place for multiple families to gather, share meals, and comfort each other. The hospice will also provide access to traditional healers, elders and knowledge keepers.