More than $5.4 million in federal funding for the Sc’ianew First Nation at Beecher Bay to build a community cultural centre was announced Thursday.
The building is expected to be the centrepiece of the nation’s town centre at Spirit Bay, which already contains an oil-spill response centre, busy recreational fishing marina and dozens of homes about 30 kilometres west of Victoria.
The Sc’ianew First Nation said the new cultural centre is an important component of delivering effective health and wellness, recreation and cultural services to the community.
Chief Russ Chipps and council members Sheeba Sawyer and Traci-Lynn Pateman of the Sc’ianew First Nation joined Gary Anandasangaree, minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, for the announcement.
Funding was secured through Ottawa’s Cultural Spaces in Indigenous Communities Program, which delivered more than $120 million to 66 First Nations across Canada.The funding is part of a federal program to address missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and LGBTQ people.
“The construction of the community cultural centre is a major project for the Sc’ianew First Nation,” said Anandasangaree. “It will serve Sc’ianew First Nation well and ensure everyone in the community can access culture and language, as well as strengthen their identities.
“This is another meaningful step in responding to the calls for justice, which call upon all governments to prioritize safe and meaningful access to culture and languages for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people.”
Sc’ianew lands surround Beecher Bay in East Sooke and also include Fraser Island, Lamb Island, Long-neck Island, Twin Island, Village Island and Whale Island.
Sci’anew First Nation is a party to the Douglas Treaties and is negotiating a modern treaty as a member of the Te’mexw treaty nations through a treaty process with the province.
