Carpentry and timber framing students installed the main door and windows on the Aboriginal Gathering Place this week. The Gathering Place is located at the College of the Rockies’ (COTR) Cranbrook Main Campus. The windows will improve the interior lighting allowing students in the Plumbing program to install the in-floor heating system.

Electrical program students are concurrently working on the exterior transformer pads and switches to connect to the newly-installed BC Hydro pole. Once these projects are completed the electrical and plumbing students will progress to putting in the rough wiring and inside service respectively, followed by the carpentry students who will erect the inside walls.

Dean of Instruction Ron McRae noted, “The Gathering Place is providing our students with great learning opportunities to work on a permanent structure. I think this will give them a lasting sense of accomplishment.”

The Gathering Place is being built as a result of a collaborative effort among the College, the Ktunaxa Nation and other Aboriginal partners. It is intended to be a community meeting place for groups of 100 or less as well as a bridge between Aboriginal and the many other cultures represented at the college and beyond. It will also be a show place for Aboriginal art and culture and a space for ceremonial events.

Partial funding has been provided by the provincial government and Columbia Basin Trust, however, other sources of funding are being sought to complete the building.

Donna Kraus-Hagerman/COTR

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