A space worth gathering in

Funding provided through Green and Inclusive Community Buildings program

The old Clare Veterans Centre had served its community for decades. Along Highway 1 in Saulnierville, on the shores of Baie Sainte-Marie, it was the kind of building that held a community together: the place for weddings and municipal meetings, for dinners and local events, for the quiet rhythms of every day life in a small Acadian municipality. But after several exhaustive assessments, the Municipality determined that the building had reached the end of its serviceable life, and that the cost of renovating it exceeded what the community could responsibility sustain. The decision was made to start over.

Building for the community that comes next

The result is a single-storey, 9,000 square foot facility on the same familiar site, built from the ground up, with the needs of Clare residents at the centre of every decision. The new Clare Veterans Centre celebrated its grand opening on February 18, 2026, and the community that walked through its doors that day found something the old building could never quite offer: a space designed with everyone in mind.

From the outset, full accessibility shaped every decision in the building’s design. It features gender-neutral washrooms and a layout currently undergoing certification by the Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification program, a national rating system that measures and certifies the level of meaningful access of buildings and sites. For residents who live with disabilities, the new centre removes the physical barriers that had long kept them on the margins of the community life happening inside.

The building also sets a new standard for how public infrastructure is built in rural Nova Scotia. It received Zero Carbon Building Design v3 certification from the Canada Green Building Council, a rigorous standard that requires buildings to be designed to achieve net-zero carbon through emissions reductions.

Rooftop solar panels and a highly efficient heating and cooling system make the facility net-zero in its design, reducing long-term operating costs for the municipality and the residents who depend on it.

A gathering place for a distinctive community

Clare is a proud Acadian community of approximately 8,500 residents along the southwestern tip of Nova Scotia, and community spaces here carry particular weight. They are where language is passed on, where culture is celebrated, and where residents who might otherwise be isolated find connection and belonging.

The new Clare Veterans Centre is that kind of space. It gives the community’s most vulnerable residents, including people with disabilities, seniors, and newcomers, a place to take part fully in the life of a municipality that has gathered in this spot for generations. The investment it represents is a commitment to building places that are worthy of everyone who enters through the door.

Quick facts

• The new Clare Veterans Centre is designed to function as an emergency shelter during hurricanes and power outages, with energy systems built to maintain heat and power when the community needs it most.
• More than one in four Canadians live with a disability that limits their daily activities. The new Clare Veterans Centre was built so that everyone can enter through its doors.
• The GICB program was created in support of Canada’s Strengthened Climate Plan: A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy. It supports the Plan’s first pillar by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing energy efficiency, and helping develop higher resilience to climate change.

For more information

• Clare Veterans Centre
• Municipality of Clare, Nova Scotia
• Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada - Green and Inclusive Community Buildings Program