The opening of the Elder Kate Hamilton Adult Education Center occurred Friday. (Facebook/Cook-Searson Tammy Jim)

By Derek Cornet

new facilities

Hall Lake celebrates opening of education centre, cultural site

Jan 27, 2023 | 3:06 PM

Hall Lake Coun. Norman Ross is hopeful the grand opening of two facilities in the community this week has a positive and healthy impact on residents.

The first grand opening was held on Thursday for the Uwasisuk Nekan (Children First) Cultural Site, which included special guests Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nation chief Bobby Cameron and vice-chiefs Dutch Lerat and David Pratt, as well as Prince Albert Grand Council vice-chief Chris Jobb.

A second grand opening occurred Friday for the Elder Kate Hamilton Adult Education Center.

“I’m very grateful for everybody who showed up to help us celebrate our grand openings,” Ross said.

“It’s been a wonderful day and I’m hoping our community continues on this positive path. We were having a lot of problems with drugs and alcohol in our community, which continues today, but with these buildings, I’m hoping we can lure the kids away from that kind of lifestyle and get them back to our culture.”

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The cultural site is located in the community, and it includes a bathroom, kitchen, and space for activities. Ross noted it will assist in facilitating the teaching of cultural traditions such as hunting, snowshoe making, and hide preparation. As a major funder of the building, the Lac La Ronge Indian Band Child and Family Services will utilize the building as well.

The opening of the Uwasisuk Nekan (Children First) Cultural Site occurred Thursday. (Facebook/Cook-Searson Tammy Jim)

“We also put up two buildings there,” he said. “We’re putting wood stoves in there and we’re going to teach them how we would heat up a house in the old days. We had to haul wood just to keep the place warm.”

The Elder Kate Hamilton Adult Education Center is meant to become a permanent space for training in Hall Lake. Ross mentioned training would typically occur at the community hall, but added sometimes that space would be needed for wakes and funerals. That forced students to train somewhere else.

The center is named after the late Kate Hamilton, who was a teacher, community health representative, and former band councillor for Sucker River.

“It’s two trailers put together. It’s good size building. There’s a bathroom and a storage room,” Ross said. “We’re hoping for different kinds of programming. We had a carpentry course last fall in our community and we had to use an old building for them.”

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @saskjourno