THUNDER BAY - A new safe space to share cultural stories and heritage is taking shape at Prince Arthur’s Landing, and while it is only temporary, organizers hope it will help raise awareness about cultural issues.
Construction began on a new teaching lodge at the Spirit Garden Tuesday morning. The project is a collaborative effort between Blue Sky Community Healing Centre, Paro Centre for Women’s Enterprise, and the Rites of Passage Project.
The lodge, funded by the Ontario 150 partnership program and built from young poplar and birch trees, is designed to be a gathering place for all cultures in Thunder Bay.
“It’s a place for coming and sharing stories, cultural stories, concerns, issues, it’s a safe space for everybody to collaborate and discuss different cultural stories and backgrounds,” said Hafsa Siddiqui, chair of the committee of the Rites of Passage Project.
The Rites of Passage Project is a multicultural and multigenerational project. The new teaching lodge will be up for National Aboriginal Day and Canada 150 celebrations.
“I think it’s important to have a space for everyone to gather and share different cultural stories and rituals,” Siddiqui said. “I think it’s important to have that kind of space in Thunder Bay. There are a few places, but they are not as well known. This is an opportunity to raise more awareness about it.”
Cindy Crowe, executive director at the Blue Sky Healing Centre, said the lodge will serve as part of an ongoing series of events celebrating all rites of passage.
“This is one of the monthly events that we are having,” she said. “Every month we are having an event to celebrate the various stages of life of a person. It’s a multigenerational, multicultural project that we are looking to get everybody involved.”
According to Crowe, the project is completely youth driven and has been in planning for the last year.
“It is a youth led project,” she said. “It is being led by youth, facilitated by youth, and hopefully we will have a whole lot of youth participation. And the young at heart as well.”
And while the teaching lodge will only be set up for a few weeks, Crowe said she would like to see something more permanent in the city, because it provides an important space for people of all ages and backgrounds to meet and share stories.
“It will be mostly recreational, socializing purposes over the next two weeks,” she said. “But to some degree it will also be instructional. It will be instructional in the sense of various cultures coming forward and sharing what are their ways of celebrating various rites of passage. We’re here representing the Indigenous part of the culture, but we are hoping to have lots of other cultures participate in the project.”
