Lheidli Littles Lodge unveiled in ribbon-cutting ceremony

Lheidli T’enneh First Nation opened a new daycare facility on the site of the community's former village in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, May 23.

Elder Loretta John held a smudging ceremony and offered a prayer for the new Lheidli Littles Lodge at the beginning of the event at the daycare, located on Gorse Street near The Exploration Place at the edge of Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park,

“It’s so important to know that we’re taking care of our people as our ancestors took care of us and to have you all here to witness this is a blessing,” John told the assembled crowd.

Speaking on behalf of the nation’s council was Coun. Tasheena Seymour, who thanked the Province of British Columbia for providing $6 million in funding for the facility and the City of Prince George, which provided the land for the project.

Chris Plato of IDL, the contractor that built the daycare, said it was a race against time to secure funding for the facility when they were approached to help complete a funding application about a month before it was due.

He said that an architect was flown up to Prince George to meet with Lheidli T’enneh leadership and create a conceptual design.

In that design and in the finished project, Plato said they worked to have elements representing elements important to the First Nation.

The building’s wide opening and narrower rear exit represents the nearby confluence of the Fraser and Nechako rivers. The use of wood for elements like the pillars holding up an awning over the entrance represents the forested landscape of Lheidli T’enneh’s home territory.

The orange concrete blocks that line the entrance and the building’s interior foyer represents the rivers’ cutbanks and the sloped roof is meant to evoke a traditional pit house.

The daycare’s general manager, Tandi Purych, a member of the First Nation, said she returned to her traditional territory from Calgary to accept the job. She said the project was a labour of love.

After the ceremony, she told reporters that Lheidli T’enneh had supported her when she in her education and she always knew that she wanted to come back and work for her community.

When the facility starts welcoming in children from eight months old to five years old on June 2, Purych said the 71 available spaces will serve kids from Lheidli T’enneh and the wider community.

Beyond providing a space for these kids, Purych said she wants to use the lodge to generate employment opportunities for Lheidli members as well. She said they’ll be partnering with the College of New Caledonia to create a work-integrated learning program so that people will be able to both work at the lodge and get their child-care credentials at the same time.

It’s clear from the interior of the building that teaching Lheidli T’enneh’s traditional language, Dakelh, will be an important component of lessons.

For instance, classroom No. 4 has signs taped to the door showing that “hodul’eh-a” is the word for classroom and “dunghi” is the word for four.

“I think children learn from eyesight and they learn when they’re the littlest,” Purych said. “That’s when they’re sponges. That’s our goal. I have a certain percentage of Indigenous staff too that I’ve been working with and they have been amazing in doing the research.”

For Purych, opening the daycare at the site of Lheidli T’enneh’s original village is important too.

“I think you can feel it in the energy when you walk into this building, to be honest,” she said. “My ancestors, my grandfather, they are buried behind us. I am to be buried behind us in the park. When you set foot on this land … I don’t know how to put it in words.”

Another member of Lheidli T’enneh council present was Coun. Kyle McIntosh, who also helped design the facility as a project manager for the nation’s special projects department.

He said that after the scramble to assemble the funding application, they got word they were successful as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. After the pandemic, they decided to keep the project going and the size of it eventually doubled.

“We had to go back to the province and plead our case to see if they were going to help fund the rest of the bill, which they did,” McIntosh said.

He said archeological and environmental work on the site didn’t reveal anything significant.

“My family is the same as Tandi’s, buried in the park,” McIntosh said. “I’ll be buried in the park. My son will be buried in the park. It sends tingles through you coming here. What better place to place the building and to raise our children here? It’s so positive.”

In future, McIntosh said the nation intends to pursue an addition-to-reserve process for the land the daycare sits on.

As someone who had his first child a year and a half ago, he thanked Purych for her expertise in developing the site.

Other dignitaries who spoke at the event included Prince George Mayor Simon Yu and Regional District of Fraser-Fort George board chair Lara Beckett.

“What a beautiful spring to see old friends, new friends and everybody here to open another great facility that is meaningful to the true meaning of reconciliation,” Yu said.

“Different levels of government, First Nations, local contractors, local designers, everybody worked together to create a product that will permanently pass on to the next generation and future generations in the name of Lheidli T’enneh.”

Beckett said the project “reflects your values, your traditions, your priorities and mostly the dedication to your children and their futures and all our futures.”

Also attending were Prince George-North Cariboo Conservative MLA Sheldon Clare and members of city council. 

Lheidli T’enneh spokesperson Todd Corrigall said Chief Dolleen Logan was suddenly called away from the community earlier in the week.

After all the speeches were done, the dignitaries gathered to cut a red ribbon and the Khast’an Drummers performed a song about a little bear as those present were invited to get a first hand look at the inside of the building.

Once inside, visitors were served soup and bannock.

Later in the day, Burnaby East NDP MLA Rohini Arora — the parliamentary secretary for child care — issued a statement on behalf of the provincial government.

"I'm so proud of this partnership. This new child-care centre will give Prince George families greater access to high-quality, inclusive, culturally rooted care where children can learn, grow, and thrive by staying connected to their language, traditions and heritage," Arora said.