JARVIS—Seven years after a small group gathered around a table with a vision for hospice care closer to home, shovels finally entered the ground where Haldimand-Norfolk’s first residential hospice is planned to rise.
Approximately 150 people gathered Wednesday, September 23, 2026 for the ceremonial groundbreaking of Williamson House, a planned 10-bed hospice on Nanticoke Creek Parkway northwest of Jarvis.
The milestone moves the Norfolk Haldimand Community Hospice another step toward creating a permanent home for end-of-life care in the two counties, where residents currently have to travel outside the area to access residential hospice beds.
—Haldimand Press photo by Nick Fearns.
Board Chair Michael Godelie called the groundbreaking a significant moment after years of work by volunteers, donors, and community partners.
The residents of Haldimand and Norfolk have been waiting for this moment, for this hospice, for a very, very long time,” Godelie said. “To have hospice accessible closer to home is so very, very important.”
The project traces its roots to 2019, when a group began working toward creating local hospice palliative care. While the residential facility remained a long-term goal, the organization developed community programs and now provides end-of-life, psychosocial, spiritual, and bereavement supports to more than 350 people each year.
Founding member and bereavement care provider Maureen Russell recalled the promise made during a January 2019 meeting that residents would not have to leave their community to find support while facing the end of life or grief.
“Today, we gather for more than the beginning of a building,” Russell said. “We gather to mark the beginning of a promise.”
That promise took a major step forward through the Williamson family, which donated 10 acres of its third-generation family farm for the hospice site along with $1 million toward the project.
The hospice will carry the Williamson House name in honour of the late Drew and Norma Williamson.
MPP Bobbi Ann Brady said she remembered the project’s early meetings and the determination behind the effort.
“There have been hurdles. There have been moments when this day may have seemed really impossible, but this committee has never stopped believing,” she said.
Brady thanked Alan Williamson and his family for donating land that will become part of their parents’ legacy.
“Your generosity in providing this land, 10 acres of your third-generation family farm, is an extraordinary gift,” she said.
The rural property, near Highways 3 and 6, was also praised for offering a peaceful setting while remaining accessible to communities throughout Haldimand and Norfolk.
Haldimand Mayor Shelley Ann Bentley said the location will eventually give local families somewhere to spend their final days together without travelling outside the community.
“It’s about having a place where someone can receive compassionate care close to home,” Bentley said. “It’s about families being able to spend time together. It’s about being surrounded by dignity, comfort, and the people they care about during some of life’s most difficult days.”
Both Haldimand and Norfolk counties have committed $750,000 to the hospice project.
Kyra Hayes, Supervisor – Customer Experience & Communications for Haldimand County, said Council unanimously approved a one-time grant of $750,000 over two years: $500,000 in 2026 and $250,000 in 2027.
“Staff also recommended that the contribution be contingent on confirmation that full project funding is secured and construction is underway. To date, this is all that has been committed,” she said.
“Site Plan approval should occur soon. Building permits cannot be issued before Site Plan approval, however, the building review process is moving forward, and Building staff are expeditiously working with the applicant,” added Hayes.
The Ontario government has provided $1 million toward capital costs and committed more than $700,000 annually toward operations once the facility opens.
John Jordan, Parliamentary Assistant to Ontario’s Minister of Health and Minister of Long-term Care, said community support is particularly important to establishing hospices.
“We know that compassionate and dignified care is available to us, and it’s so important when it’s available in our community, where we raise our families and spend our career,” Jordan said.
Hospice Palliative Care Ontario President and CEO Rick Firth said providing that access in rural areas remains an important part of expanding hospice care.
“More than half of the existing hospices in the province are in rural communities like Jarvis, and half of the new builds are as well,” Firth said. “Access to rural hospice here is a priority for our association because we believe no one should have to travel to the city to get their care.”
Board member Kristina Kett said the campaign has been supported by “families, businesses, service clubs (including 17 Lions clubs), foundations, individuals – they’re giving different ways and getting together.”
She urged those who have considered supporting the hospice to help carry the campaign through its final stretch.
The ceremony also illustrated the connection organizers hope to create between the building and the land surrounding it.
Before the ceremonial shovels went into the soil, Russell led a blessing using water collected from locations across Haldimand and Norfolk, including the Grand River and Long Point Bay.
“Today is more than putting a shovel in the ground,” she said. “We are planting hope. We are building compassion.”
Norfolk Mayor Amy Martin said the hospice represents a project shared by both counties rather than one belonging solely to the municipality where it is being built.
“It shows that when we put people first, municipal boundaries don’t matter,” Martin said. “It shows that together we can accomplish great things.”
Executive Director Andrea Binkle joined the organization in December 2023 after years working in nursing and hospice programming. She said being able to physically break ground on a hospice was a particularly emotional milestone.
“It’s been a dream of mine in the last 20, 25 years to actually build one,” Binkle said. “I’ve worked in one. I have worked at the provincial level in designing hospice programs and services. But to actually dig dirt for a hospice is overwhelming to me.”
Binkle said hospice care also extends beyond the person approaching death to the loved ones left behind.
“I think everyone’s last breath is as sacred as their first,” she said.
The ceremonial groundbreaking does not mean full construction has started. At the time of the event, the organization was still awaiting the necessary Haldimand County building permits, with Binkle saying she hoped work on the foundation could begin before winter.
The hospice board expects Williamson House to open in 2028.
Furthermore, Godelie said reaching the groundbreaking does not end the community effort. Beyond the remaining construction fundraising, ongoing programs and services will continue to need support after the building opens.
“This groundbreaking represents more than the beginning of a building,” he said. “It marks the beginning of a place where individuals dying will receive compassionate care, where families will find comfort, and every individual will be treated with dignity at the end of life.”
