Royal Bank of Canada is donating $25,000 to the Cheakamus Centre.
The money will help Indigenous youth explore, build, and share indigenous cultural practices in an environmental education setting.
“Our Interconnected Nature project brings people together in a teaching longhouse providing for a powerful way to share traditional ways of knowing to better understand each other and how all of us are part of the Natural World,” says Dr. Sarah Bainbridge, senior development officer for the Cheakamus Foundation in a news release.
The idea for this pilot project grew out of Skw’une-was, Cheakamus Centre’s long-running cultural immersive program where since 1985, students have learned from First Nation interpreters the traditional way of life and historical practices of the Coast Salish people of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Valley.
Our Interconnected Nature project is part of a multi-stage approach to ensure the continuity of traditional practices, and to develop a framework for environmental education centres throughout Canada.
The project aims to create meaningful employment opportunities, strengthen connections to post-secondary institutions, and contribute to the Truth and Reconciliation movement.
