Red Pheasant Cree Nation approved for a $25 million youth center. (RedPheasantCommunications/Facebook)

By Alyssa Rudolph

Aimed at prevention and opportunity

$25M youth centre approved for Red Pheasant Cree Nation

Jan 1, 2026 | 11:30 AM

A centre to benefit youth and Elders at Red Pheasant Cree Nation will go forward after receiving millions of dollars in funding.

“We’ve been working tirelessly to make this a reality; it is a very big accomplishment for our community, and we’re very proud,” said Chief Cody Benson after Red Pheasant Cree Nation’s $25 million youth center approval.

It came from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal 41 (CHRT), a grant issued to help fund capital assets which support the delivery of First Nations Child and Family Services.

The center will be located adjacent to Clifford Wuttunee School and will include an activity space for youth with pool tables, foosball tables and video games. There will also be a cultural area where the community can host feasts and children can gather to learn from Elders.

Benson hopes the center will act as a ‘safe haven’ for youth when they feel they have nothing else to do in the community.

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“We’re trying to prevent gang activity. There’s a lot of our younger generation getting tied up in that. So, we’re trying our hardest to create different avenues for the youth so that they’re not feeling like they’re bored,” he said.

Over the past year, Red Pheasant’s band manager worked hard to make the space a reality.

“I don’t want to take the shine away from her because she put a lot of work into it and she deserves all the credit for it.”

“We came in and we helped where we had to help, and we pushed where we had to push, but a lot of the stuff that needed to be done, she did,” Benson said.

The youth center will also help to provide a wide range of job opportunities to members.

“We’ll be asking the people who put in their tenders to employ some of our community members. Not only that, but there’ll also be other opportunities too, once the building is up and running,” he said.

The Chief continues to feel a sense of accomplishment, as this project aligns with his hope of bringing new recourses to youth in Red Pheasant Cree Nation.

“One of my big things when I was running was I wanted to make sure that we don’t forget the youth and we continue to work for them because at the end of the day when this is all said, all of these things are for them and it’s creating opportunities,” he said.

Now that the Cree nation has an approval letter for the project, they can start seeking building tenders with the hopes of seeing construction begin in the next few months.

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alyssa.rudolph@pattisonmedia.com