Frog Lake First Nations’ Children & Family, Intervention and Prevention Horse Healing Centre

HEALING THROUGH HORSES 

The Frog Lake First Nations’ Children & Family, Intervention and Prevention Horse Healing Centre harnesses the healing outcomes of horses for both prevention and intervention. A fresh response to the CHRT 41 ruling, this facility empowers Frog Lake FNs to foster family reunification and healing, and to break intergenerational trauma. Indigenous values and sustainable design weave together to create a positive future for this community.

The Equine Centre includes offices for wrap-around services and an arena for year-round use, a veterinary/quarantine stall and machine shed, a hay, straw and shaving shed, and six reunification homes. The site includes an outdoor riding arena, ceremonial grounds, a Legacy Stone Circle, healing gardens, a fire lagoon, and many walking and horseback riding trails.

Operating year-round as a remedial space that aids community healing and education, and supports family reunification. The facility integrates Indigenous spiritual horse healing with Equine Assisted Therapy, Equine Assisted Learning, to facilitate a healing exchange between horses and humans. All programme elements, from mental health services, social services, wellness courts, victim services, education and training facilities, to community spaces for spiritual and cultural activities, include a horse-human connection.

UPLIFTING PLACE

The building’s form dissolves the barrier between inside and outside and suggests oneness; horses bridge the gap by bringing soil, straw and hay indoors. Designed for the integration of the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual self and the collective, the space is also deeply rooted in Cree culture. Its design draws parallels between ribbons , used in dancing and spiritual expression) and the movements of horses’ manes and tails, which can all be considered as extensions of bodies. The space celebrates horse-human connection and healing and self expression through movement.

THRIVING COMMUNITY

This project builds advocacy in the community and empowers families to bring children home, as families acquire new skills, heal, and reconnect children and youth with their culture. It offers multiple cultural facilities shaped by Elders, such as the historical and contemporary living museum, and both indoor and outdoor ceremonial spaces. 

ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

The project empowers Frog Lake First Nations, supporting them on their path to self-sufficiency using the principles of circular economy. Horse manure is collected and recycled as fertiliser for the community’s agricultural pursuits, while solar and geothermal technologies help the Centre to generate its own resources and target net-zero and carbon-neutral. Recessed into the land to align with its topography and to harvest rainwater, it works with, not against, its environment. No trees will be removed from the site, and only native species will be planted on site.

This facility also creates jobs for the community. Local staff will manage the building, and its programme will facilitate training for various career paths.

RECOGNITION

On December 1, 2023, Canadian Architect announced that this project won one of the publication's five Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence.