The Manitoba Métis Federation wants to stop the City of Winnipeg from demolishing the Kelvin Community Centre.
 
Federation president David Chartrand has been in informal talks with Elwood Coun. Lillian Thomas to help fund an aboriginal group to use the centre, located at 281 Henderson Highway.
 
The city's property and development committee voted Tuesday to demolish the centre, but Chartrand says the centre is needed because there aren't enough facilities for youth in the neighbourhood.

"We're finding that there's nowhere for kids to go. There's nothing for them, I'm talking in general in the core and in the North End," he told CBC News on Wednesday morning.

The problem came to light when the federation was trying to book facilities for the North American Indigenous Games, Chartrand said.

"We couldn't find one facility to host any game in the North End or core area. Not one. We had to host them everywhere else in the city."

"That tells you something: There is nothing out there, and where's the high crime rate?"

The Métis federation is willing to put forward $100,000 to help save the club, Chartrand said.

Winnipeg city council voted to close Kelvin Community Centre in January 2007, despite protests of angry neighbourhood residents who crowded council chambers and hallways outside in a last-ditch fight to keep the centre open.

A city committee concluded last year that the 58-year-old centre was in poor condition, uneconomical to maintain, required significant repairs and was in a state that made it cost prohibitive to maintain or replace.

Instead, the city will spend $3.9 million to expand the Bronx Community Club a few kilometres away.

The former community centre building, splash pad and playground site are to be demolished, according to committee documents. The majority of the site will remain as a recreation area, and the field house and garage will remain.