Outdoor Gathering Area Project is Underway!

We are thrilled to announce that construction for the highly anticipated outdoor gathering area has commenced under Tom Jones Construction. This incredible initiative began as an idea in 2016, and now is transforming our campus and will enrich the educational experience for both students and staff.

As construction gets underway, the area will be temporarily fenced off as an essential safety measure to ensure smooth progress of the project. We are aiming for the completion of Phase 1 by late fall, but please note that the exact timeline and completion date may be influenced by various factors. We assure you that the result will be well worth the wait and your cooperation and understanding during this period are greatly appreciated.

To keep everyone engaged, informed, and to give you a glimpse of what’s to come throughout this exciting journey, project plans will be posted outside the Student Success office and in other locations across campus.  The plans provide insights into the features, amenities, and design elements of our new Indigenous Gathering Outdoor area!

The new Indigenous Gathering Outdoor area is not just a physical space; it's a testament of our commitment to providing an exceptional land based learning experience for our students, giving our Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, faculty, staff and community partners the opportunity to gather in a fully accessible space to share cultures, tell stories, and discover. The area is dedicated to honouring and respecting the land and water, creating an accessible gathering space in nature to share Indigenous tradition and learnings, bringing nature back to the existing constructed spaces, and creating opportunities to expand further into multi-functional areas in the outdoors.

We are thankful to FedNor through the Jobs and Growth Fund for funding this project. During the design phase, we optimized design elements to ensure that all required aspects are in place and the base infrastructure will support future expansion. Engagement sessions held in late March with Landscape Architect Bhavana Bonde from A49 Architects have been used to develop the vision for the space that will continue to be developed in phases as funding becomes available. The posted designs provide details of Phase 1 and 2, but further expansion is possible as illustrated.  Thank you to everyone that participated in the engagement sessions, you provided the energy to grow the vision for the space!

The Indigenous Gathering Outdoor area aligns and supports the Indigenous Learning Outcomes and the Sustainable Development Goals, specifically SDG 4 – Quality Education and SDG 15 – Life on Land by providing an exceptional learning experience for our students and fostering a vibrant community within and outside our campus.

We are excited to see this project come to life and witness the transformation it brings to our educational environment!

The project team is happy to answer any questions about this project – please email questions to [email protected].