Kahnawake cultural community gets $1 million for new building
Kahnawake cultural community gets $1 million for new building
It has been a decade in the planning and breaking ground at the new culture and language centre in Kahnawake just got a $1 million step closer this week.
The Magic Palace poker house donated the money which will go to construct a new home for the Kanien'kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa Language and Cultural Center (KORLCC), Turtle Island Theater, the community tourism office, and other organizations in the Mohawk community on across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal.
"We felt a responsibility to be good business community members and were lucky enough to be given the opportunity when we were asked to contribute to such an important project for our community," said Magic Palace CEO Louis John Diabo.
The donation comes after Playground Poker Club donated $1 million in the summer, and Mohawk Online donated $5 million in July. The capital campaign in the community needs to raise $16 million to construct the new facility.
The building's new museum will attract visitors from across the region while the cultural centre continues its work revitalizing and growing the language and other aspects of culture.
"A lot more people are coming here; they want to find out about the Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk)," said Mohawk Council of Kahnawake Grand Chief Kahsennahawe Sky-Deer. "It will be an opportunity to educate people from the outside. We're so close to Montreal, a major metropolitan city, people come from all over Europe and the world pretty much, so if we have a cultural centre like this showing our perspective, I think it's going to go a long way in building relationships. There is still a lot of racism and lack of understanding when it comes to Indigenous people."
The plans include a 4,800-square-metre building on three acres of land bordering Highway 132.
The architecture of the structure is designed to be in harmony with the greenery around it.
The hope is to break ground on the $35 million centre next year.
The cultural centre runs a two-year Kanienʼkéha (Mohawk language) immersion program, which will finally have a permanent home.
"We've been in operation for 45 years," said KOR executive director Kawennanoron Lisa Phillips. "Our mandate is for language and culture, and we run the adult immersion program, which is in its 20th year."
The hope is to break grown in the spring and do a final ribbon-cutting ceremony in 2025.
On CTVNews.ca and YouTube: Health journalist Avis Favaro joins our Trend Line podcast, for an in-depth episode dedicated to the growing crises facing the Canadian health-care system.
Police have released a video of a driver who smashed a vehicle through the doors of Vaughan, Ont. mall early Wednesday before allegedly breaking into an electronics store.
The federal government is expected to introduce a law as early as Thursday to delay the extension of medically assisted dying eligibility to people whose sole underlying condition is a mental disorder.
The Nova Scotia government has entered into a $365-million, 10-year agreement with a health technology firm for the design and management of a digital medical record program first announced more than seven years ago.
Gillian Burnett was almost finished her work day on Jan. 24 when she received a terrifying call about her young son. Waylon, 20-months-old, was found submerged in an outdoor pool at a home daycare near Petrolia, Ont.
Tsuut'ina Nation Police Service officials are encouraging any local victims to come forward following the arrest of actor Nathan Lee Chasing Horse in Las Vegas on sex assault charges.
Tsuut'ina Nation Police Service officials are encouraging any local victims to come forward following the arrest of actor Nathan Lee Chasing Horse in Las Vegas on sex assault charges.
Calgarians considering celebrating Valentine's Day with a meal at a local eatery have plenty to choose from, including nine named among the most romantic in Canada.
A second key player of Alberta's last government revealed their landing spot on Wednesday: former premier Jason Kenney is joining Bennett Jones' Calgary office.
A hearing is underway to determine if Udo Haan is not criminally responsible for the death of his wife Edra Haan, who was found in the aftermath of the 2018 house explosion in Kitchener, Ont.
A B.C. man who stabbed his wife in the back was acquitted of aggravated assault after a judge found he was likely to have been "effectively asleep" at the time.
A second key player of Alberta's last government revealed their landing spot on Wednesday: former premier Jason Kenney is joining Bennett Jones' Calgary office.
Connor Bedard has arrived in Calgary ahead of what's expected to be a completely full Scotiabank Saddledome when the Calgary Hitmen and Regina Pats square off.
Public Safety Canada and the Canadian Armed Forces were caught off guard by a request for help from Saskatchewan during the height of the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While crews have resumed operations in an attempt to open the Rideau Canal Skateway for its 53rd season, an NCC spokesperson tells CTV News Ottawa the canal will not open in time for the first weekend of Winterlude on Friday.
Two weeks before Valentine's Day, OpenTable has released a list of the 100 Most Romantic Restaurants in Canada for 2023, based on more than one million reviews by OpenTable diners.
Thirty-seven-year-old Adam Willet was found dead in his apartment on 7th Street East in December, and his family says they are now on the hook for cleaning the suite.
