Horizon Achievement Centre update welcomed

An article in the Cape Breton Post regarding the new facility for the Horizon Achievement Centre (“New facility is on the horizon,” Feb. 10) provided a welcome update on its status.

I often drive past the property on Spar Road, which would be the site of the new building, and look forward to the start of its construction there. I can’t wait until the funding commitments from all three levels of government are a reality, and work can start on the new Horizon Achievement Centre building. It’s not just a building - it would be a dream come true for a segment of our population who have been marginalized throughout the years.

At Horizon Achievement Centre, they are considered individuals, and given the help and support that they need as individuals. Their support, development and training should be encouraged through solid funding commitments of government support at all levels - federal, provincial, and municipal - and it should be made now, not waiting in limbo for an election year.

That support would see the reality of a much-needed new Horizon Achievement Centre building, one that would accommodate individual needs not just of the clients currently at the Centre, but of the many who are waiting on a long list. It is past time for governments to provide meaningful support to this segment of our population.

The concept of this new building which supports employment through social enterprise and inclusion on the property on Spar Road makes me proud to be the daughter of a steel worker and the relative of a person with an intellectual disability.

Rose Courage Sydney