Members of an Inverness Co. First Nations community have celebrated the grand opening of their new community centre and fire hall.
The celebration of the new facility, which replaces the former community centre and fire hall that was destroyed by fire in 2015, took place in We’koqma’q Sunday.
Chief Rod Googoo tells The Hawk it was an impromptu family day.
“Everybody truly enjoyed themselves, we had great music, good food and a lot of stuff for the kids- a lot of prizes were given out,” he says. “It was an incredible day, and now we move on into the future.”
Googoo says the new hall will be open for all kinds of occasions- from graduations to dances to birthday parties and socials- with two kitchens, a dedicated meeting room, and a good view of the bay.
He says it’s a relief to finally have a community centre again.
“To me, it’s like a rebirth of our heart and soul to have our community hall up and running again,” he says. “It was a great relief with a lot of joy.”
Googoo says the hall has an emergency generator and will function as a warming center in the winter, in addition to the warming centre at the community’s school.
