Deanna Lewis has played an integral role is creating the Squamish Lil'Wat Cultural Centre where the living culture of both Squamish and Lil'Wat Nations can be shared, celebrated and preserved. And for her hard work and dedication, Lewis was recognized with the Aboriginal Tourism BC Award for Young Adult Achievement on Wednesday (March 5), while surrounded by 500 people at Canada Place in Vancouver. While she said she was honoured to receive the recognition, she said the greatest reward was her 10-year-old daughter's excitement."She said 'I'm so proud of you. I want to be just like you,'" Lewis recalled.She thanked both her children, Seraphine and Justin, as she accepted the award, describing them as her conscience."They're the best thing I ever did," she said, noting that helping create the Squamish Lil'Wat Cultural Centre would be a strong second.The 30,4000 square foot complex, set to open in Whistler this summer, will make the First Nation's customs she strived to learn far more accessible than her grandfather's stories."It felt like I had a knife and was prying it out of him," she said. "My kids won't have to do that."When Lewis was a child, learning about her First Nations roots took no shortage of determination. Her grandfather Norman Lewis had lived through years of residential schooling, where his native artwork was confiscated and his mother tongue rebuked. When he started his own family, he chose to spare them this experience by leaving the stories, songs and language of his heritage out of the household.Norman had not accounted for his granddaughter's curiosity. At eight years old, a school visit by Rick Harry of Squamish Nation spurred Lewis to uncover the wealth of customs her grandfather had been quietly storing."I said, 'You know it. How come you never taught me before?'" Lewis recalled. Holding her on his lap, he began to teach her little by little about their aboriginal culture. Soon, Lewis was making up excuses to visit him more often."Can you imagine, a little eight-year-old dragging a wagon full of laundry two miles down the road, just saying 'I'm going to do the wash at Grandpa's,'" she laughed, noting the visits were inevitably filled with more stories than chores.She started on at the cultural centre three years ago with an extremely thorough consultation process. Working with a community planning committee, she visited elders, children and countless other people to help co-ordinators create a common vision for the centre. "Close your eyes and walk me through the centre," she would say when speaking with children. "How do you want to feel when you leave?"Once a design was created, she returned to the community to ensure she had adequately represented their ideas.Since November, she has been helping promote the centre by giving hardhat tours of the building and creating ties with groups such as Tourism Whistler.The centre's marketing manager Deanna Bell said she noticed her coworker's passion from the outset."She's very inspired just really enthusiastic," said Bell.
