A new rental building on Xwemelch’stn (Capilano Reserve) is giving Sk瘫wx瘫wu虂7mesh U虂xwumixw (Squamish Nation) members who have lived away from the area the opportunity to return home.
Nation members celebrated the grand opening of the Chenkw Em虛út building Tuesday. The three-storey, 95-unit building is for Squamish Nation members with priority to Elders, youth and families based on a multi-generational housing approach.
“[It’s] a really exciting day for the community being able to celebrate this amazing housing project that’s been in the works for the last six years,” said Sarah Silva, a member of the board of directors for Hiy虛ám虛 Housing, a non-profit organization the Nation launched to address housing needs for members.
Chenkw Em虛út, meaning “I am home,” is a mixed-use building with townhomes and apartments. Units range from three-bedroom townhomes to studios and two-bedroom apartments. Some rents are geared to income, with an aim of providing housing for low- to moderate-income households, while 20 per cent of units are reserved for households receiving income assistance.
In addition to the housing units, elements of Squamish Nation culture and art are woven throughout the building.
The province provided $10.7 million through 小蓝视频 Housing to help bring the project forward. The Squamish Nation, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and Indigenous Services Canada also helped fund the project.
Some residents have been living in the building since late last year, with now 114 people from the Squamish Nation calling it home, including Anneliese Vonkanel and her eight-year-old son.
Vonkanel and her son moved into a two-bedroom apartment just after Christmas. She is grateful to now be living so close to their cultural home. Before, the two were living in New Westminster, and it was challenging to drive here for Squamish Nation events. But now, some events are a five-minute walk away.
“It just gives us that much more of an opportunity to keep learning who we are,” she said.
Vonkanel is a Sixties Scoop survivor and learned she was a Squamish Nation member a little more than a decade ago.
She used information she had knowing her mother’s place of birth in Pender Harbour on Vancouver Island and connected with a local online chat forum to get any leads. After being redirected a few times with no luck, someone recognized her mother’s last name being connected to Squamish Nation.
Then she picked up the phone to call Squamish Nation to give it a shot, and was told by Nation members that they knew her grandmother.
“It’s something that I’m really proud of that I was able to actually do and get connected with my family, because I know that there are a lot of Sixities Scoop survivors that have no way to find their way home,” Vonkanel said.
“Not being able to grow up with any culture at all or even knowing anything about being Indigenous … every time I see my son involved in the culture, I can’t be more proud of him,” she added. “It’s been really a big blessing to be able to be home after not even knowing where my home was.”
Elected council member for Squamish Nation Sxwíxwtn (Wilson Williams) said the project is part of the nation’s to house every member within 25 years.
He feels sentimental about this project in particular, as his aunt moved into the building after being away from home for 50 years.
“This is the reclamation, revitalization of not just our culture, it’s being connected to it,” Williams said. “And you need to be home to be able to be directly connected to it.”
Squamish Nation has been ramping up housing in recent years. The Nation opened a 55-unit building on Capilano reserve in North Vancouver and another in April 2024, and also completed an affordable housing project for vulnerable nation member’s earlier this month in Squamish.
“This is the start of a journey of bringing our people home and keeping them home,” Williams said.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the .
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