New hospice to be built in Mississauga gets $16M boost from city

Plans to build a “much-needed” hospice in Mississauga are expected to move forward quickly once city officials sign off on a loan agreement on Wednesday.

The required final approval from city councillors will see Hospice Mississauga officially secure a loan of as much as $16.25 million from the City of Mississauga.

With that financial commitment in place, the city says the community organization can then proceed with the “long-overdue” construction of the new 12-bed facility, which is expected to cost between $28 million and $33 million. Hospice officials say what will be Mississauga’s first such permanent facility is on track to open in spring 2027.

City council gave the unanimous green light to the loan in late April, but councillors must formally approve a memorandum of agreement at Wednesday’s scheduled general committee meeting.

In a report to councillors, senior city staff said they’re seeking formal approval of the agreement “so the hospice can solidify the funding requirement to proceed with the construction project.

“Once the construction is complete, the new hospice will be the first hospice centre in Mississauga and will provide end-of-life care to residents, bringing the total number of hospice beds available in Peel and Halton from 18 to 30.”

Ward 8 Coun. and Deputy Mayor Matt Mahoney said in April he was “very excited” to see the city help get the hospice built. He added at the time that “for a city of our size … to not have a hospice is certainly something that we need to fix.”

Rendering of new hospice in Mississauga. (Image: Hospice Mississauga)

The mayor and city councillors have said for years Canada’s seventh-largest city is “long overdue” in getting a permanent facility that offers end-of-life hospice care.

“It’s embarrassing” a city the size of Mississauga — with some 720,000 residents at last official count — has not had its own hospice for many years, Mayor Carolyn Parrish said at a December 2023 council meeting when she was Ward 5 councillor.

Hospice Mississauga executive director Kitrina Fex has echoed those sentiments, noting on several occasions “we are the third-largest city in the province and the largest city in Canada without a hospice.”

For 14 years prior to its renaming in November 2023, Hospice Mississauga was known as Heart House Hospice. The organization offered end-of-life care and services to those who needed it, but it was without its own dedicated facility.

It badly needed its own bricks-and-mortar location, Fex said at the time, noting Mississauga’s population is aging at a rapid rate.