The chief of the We’koqma’q First Nation says progress is being made on their new community hall and fire department.
Rod Googoo says construction on the facility has been underway for a few months, and the roof has been installed.
Band members lost their former building in a fire in Dec. 2015.
Googoo tells The Hawk everyone is excited for the opening of the new structure.
“They’re all excited, they’re looking forward to seeing it; they see it going up piece-by-piece every day,” he says. “They’re looking forward to having a community centre available to the community again- everybody’s excited, we only build something like that once in our lifetime.”
Googoo says the new building will have lots of space and Wi-Fi, which the old location didn’t.
He says the building is essential for band members.
“It’s really the hall that has been the heart and soul of our social gatherings,” he says. “Weddings, birthdays, Halloween parties, you name it- everything like that has always taken place at our community hall.”
Googoo says the cost of the facility is expected to be roughly $2 million.
He says they’ve had a lot of other work in the area, so they didn’t have people to take on the job, but they hope to have a grand opening in March.