Keepers of the Culture ~ Stolo Resource Centre Opens ~ October 23 2010

Monday October 25, 2010

Feature Story

Keepers of the Culture

Sto:lo Resource Centre ushers in the dawn of a new era for Native community

Craig Hill/Voice photos

Chief Joe Hall wearing a blue headband and Lt.-Gov. Steven Point and his wife Gwen are accompanied by Semoya drummers and dancers at the Sto:lo Resource Centre opening.

n a highly anticipated ceremony, Sto:lo Nation opened the doors of their state-of-the-art Resource Centre Saturday ushering in the dawning of a new age for People of the River.

It's been a huge year for culture in Chilliwack. Last month the $21-million Arts and Culture Centre came online and now another landmark, the $11-million SRC, opened on Sunday. That's a grand total of over $32-million sunk into two buildings dedicated to the development of arts and the preservation of culture in Chilliwack.

The Resource Centre will be the Sto:lo headquarters for economic development and the cultural preservation of their history as told through art, music and language. Sto:lo culture will be there to share for generations housed in the splendor of their award-winning structure.

The building certainly rivals the new Arts and Culture Center and actually surpasses the Cultch with LEED Gold status in building design and sustainability.

A pair of freshly-carved male and female "Welcome figures" stand poised in the classic Sto:lo greeting and towering over visitors to the Centre just a stone's throw from the original longhouse.

Cy Lecuyer is the Community Development Coordinator and spoke to the Voice about the new building prior to the ceremony, referring to it as "a winning entity."

"So what we're looking at that's really coming out of this building is a central theme with two streams; economic development and culture and it is bringing the region's bands together," he said.

"We're proud to announce that the building received the minister's award on the weekend and it's the top project in the province of British Columbia, the top project for innovation and economic development."

Lecuyer described how every rock, every plant and every aspect of the building has a special purpose and meaning. From the berms in the back to the plants in the front.

It is a beautiful building and part of what makes it beautiful is aboriginal art throughout the building from the third floor to the main entrance with a huge emphasis with that cultural aspect.

"It's different than the Euro-Canadian view of art," said Lecuyer. "Art in Aboriginal Society serves a purpose and tells a story, it's part of the culture, it's part of the artifacts, it's part of who the people are." said Lecuyer.

"You'll notice that the Welcoming Figures have those brown marks on the cheeks and hands and also some of them have them on the feet–that's a cultural component that's often overlooked."

There are so many hidden subtle points and Lecuyer says you could walk through it for hours and still not see everything. He says they'll be putting up signs pointing those things out but that they wont ever be able to show it all.

"There's just no way to capture everything in one interview," said Lecuyer. "Even then with the right kind of eyes it's incredible what Cy Lecuyer stand out front of the newly finished Centre

you can see in this building."

"One example is the stonework that you see in the front and Dr. Dave Schaepe, the senior archeologist from the Sto:lo nation, had specifically picked those out from an old village site up the Chilliwack Valley," said Lecuyer.

The bios wails in the lower drainage area out front are there to filter out groundwater before it goes back down into that water table. The ramp is lined with a local variety of blueberry bushes native to BC.

"People will be able to walk up that ramp, have a few blueberries," he said with a laugh. "All of our plants that have been chosen are native to the region so that they're going to thrive in this area and nothing will need to be watered which is all part of getting the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) Gold certification."

Getting certified "Gold" means the building has to meet a certain level of environmental standards and Lecuyer explained that they had to look at all aspects of construction closely, even the elevator.

What makes this a more sustainable building is that it's made from recycled materials but that it's also "friendly" to people who have certain allergies because they have reduced the pathogens by using materials like latex-based glues and non-volatile chemicals in the paint.

"Everything from the carpet that you walk on to the paint on the ceiling, it's all environmentally friendly."

"There's only one higher LEED certification and that would be platinum and you almost have to put energy back into the grid and this building was built in one year so we did what we had time for."

Referring to berms that were constructed for educational purposes, Lecuyer said its "the kind of subtlety that would be lost if you didn't know and there's that wonderful surprise on the other side of the building which is an archeological reproduction of a pit house."

The main floor doors open to a glass wall of artifacts holding some of the most precious of Sto:lo artifacts and behind that is the atrium which is a sort of sensory room with a huge video monitor and picture window-sized holograms.

Upstairs, in one of the art rooms, Frita George has been weaving for over thirty-years and Saturday was busy teaching visitors the art of loom-weaving. People could thread a row and become part of the first art made in the building

"People are going to do a row of weaving and after they're going to sign the sheet there and once it's all done they're going to take it and frame it and post it somewhere in the building and have everybody's name on it that participated in it."

Lt-Governor Steven L. Point and his wife Gwen arrived with Colour Guard Insp. Terry Kopan and the party was guided up the long ramp to the podium by Centre staff.

Both the Lt.-Gov. and his wife spoke about the importance of the building and what it will do for their people. Later, they planted a cedar tree and were presented with a framed print of the Centre and a Sto:lo blanket emblazoned with the Nation's logo.

Well-wishers surrounded the Lt.-Gov. as he slowly made his way back to his limousine chauffeured by John Major.

Without a doubt, the most important thing of all, is that now the Sto:lo now have a place to welcome people that they can be proud of.

Listen to an audio recording of the ceremony here.

See the photo gallery below.