This small, BC community is in the process of designing and building a new pre-school with the help of Scott Kemp, who is also our Write to Read BC architect.
The community is adding to the building design a portion that will serve as a community library. This project is a partnership with Write to Read BC.
Quatsino is located northwest of Port Hardy, on the BC coast.
Progress for the Write to Read BC project in Wuikinuxv, or Oweekeno, Rivers Inlet, has been encouraging. In fact, volunteers and project partners have already made several visits, to contribute their work to this partnership.
Write to Read BC’s design response team made two trips to Oweekeno—including Christoph Neufeld from Britco Structures (Now Boxx Modular) and the project’s architect Scott Kemp. The meetings and brainstorming with the Oweekeno team developed a vision for a building that we now call the Child of the Big House. This resulted in plans for the building, and a supplies list of required materials, which were handed off to the construction response team.
Write to Read BC’s construction response team will project-manage the 24×34 m building, its pad of steel-reinforced concrete, and dozens of massive wood posts and beams.
The amount of cement required for a pad that’s 15 cm thick is daunting, so the team wanted to use a cement batch plant that would make the cement in a quarter of the time of small mixers. The community went on a search to find such a plant. As with everything on this project, we were able to find a supplier, and a company is willing to contribute. Otherwise, the cost would have been prohibitive for this particular machine.
Finding a way to ship the cement and reinforced steel bars is still on the team’s to-do list.
Western Forest Products and Interfor Corporation are donating the logs to the community. The community in turn will be milling the lumber to the specifications provided by Kemp, the project’s architect. To hold up the roof, the design requires two beams, each 34 m in length and 1.2 m wide. The community and two lumber companies are looking for two trees now, and are confident they can find them. The community’s team lead said, “If we do, the Creator again is working with us.” The community also needs 6 posts of 1.2 m wide, and 16 posts 90 cm wide.
The team is also speaking with Seaspan in North Vancouver, to find the right type of barge to unload a 13 m prefabricated Britco building on the beach at Oweekeno.
Write to Read BC members approached Richmond Firefighters and left them with plans of the building. As volunteers they are very eager to help with construction, but because of summer leave cannot start until September.
With a batch plant for the foundations and cement pad arranged, scheduling the firefighters will be easier, and the pad is expected to be finished before the end of September, with building construction well underway.
Lions Gate Rotary Club of North Vancouver has taken the lead on fundraising for this Write to Read BC project.
The project uses no public funds and has no administration costs. Every dollar donated has gone straight into the purchase of materials. The success of the project is that urban companies and groups in BC towns and cities are partnering with isolated, Indigenous communities via Internet. They’re bridging the geographical and cultural gap simply through mutual kindness and trust.
“So far, I think the value of donations of time and materials is about $458,000,” said Write to Read BC’s co-lead Bob Blacker, adding: “We are developing a team of great volunteers here, and all the donors have been very generous.” Blacker arranged all of this with the help of a long and growing list of donors.
The value of the logs provided by Western Forest and Interfor is $65,000. Additional funding was made possible by Vancouver Coastal Health, a partner on this project. They provided a way for the project to apply for $25,000 toward construction.
“The key to getting this project done is that it is all community based,” says project architect Kemp, in this video:
“We are not joining the government queue and waiting for handouts. We are simply going out and doing it ourselves, and it’s been a huge success,” said Kemp.
This by far is the largest project Write to Read BC and a Rotary Club have ever done. Logistically, it has been a huge challenge but the construction response team is managing its way through. Meanwhile, the library response team—which will install the bookshelves and books, technology, and furniture, and which will provide training in library management—is preparing for the last stage.
This project may serve as a template for future projects in other isolated communities across BC. It’s also an opportunity for Oweekeno community to tell the world about itself, says Write to Read BC’s Kemp:
This summer’s grand opening of the Write to Read BC library in Nooaitch was attended by Elders, band members, Judith Guichon, lieutenant-governor of BC, Rotary Club members, Britco Structures, TELUS, and a reporter from Shaw TV.
Britco donated the modular building that houses the library. Rotary Club raised funds and its members volunteered on the project. TELUS provided the high-speed connection so people can attend courses and conferences online in the library’s learning centre.
Write to Read BC’s co-lead Bob Blacker reports that the BC Correctional Service, through two of its facilities on Vancouver Island, have agreed to build furniture for Write to Read BC libraries.
First Nations inmates will build bookshelves, computer stations, coffee tables, and any custom work that may be required for libraries that Write to Read BC installs in isolated, Indigenous communities across BC.
Not only will libraries have a choice of shelving types, the shelving can be custom fitted for each library space.
With the help of Windsor Plywood, Write to Read BC will arrange for the required materials. The Correctional Facilities will build the furniture. Another positive aspect of the agreement is that First Nation inmates will be able to help build the furniture, certainly a win/win for all involved.
Write to Read BC volunteers joined the village of Quatsino to officially open its new library on February 7, 2017. Quatsino community leaders and lieutenant-governor of BC Judith Guichon also joined the ceremony.
The village is on Vancouver Island, 15km south of Port Hardy. Most of its residents of Quatsino work in forestry, fishing, and eco-tourism.
Old Massett band members talked about their concept of an Aboriginal library with Write to Read BC team members, recently. They were joined by Beng Leng Favreau of Literacy Haida Gwaii, and Christoph Neufeld from Britco Structures (now Boxx Modular).
Britco is providing modular buildings to house a number of Write to Read BC libraries.
The partnership now needs to find a Rotary Club to adopt this community fundraising project, so work can begin.
The community is very excited that we are preparing to do that. A visit to the community by Steven Point, the governor-general of BC, has also raised interest.
After partnering with Write to Read BC, the isolated community of Lax Kw’alaams conceived of a community library that meets their literacy and learning needs.
Another Write to Read BC partner, Mission Rotary Club, asked its community to contribute $5,000 to the project, and then doubled that with a $5,000 grant. The Rotary Club volunteers also set up the library in October.
This new library in Lax Kw’alaams, formerly known as Port Simpson, has shelves of books to read, comfortable seating, and computers for remote attendance in courses and conferences in its learning centre.
The Nuu-chah-nulth is a First Nations tribal council, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, near Port Alberni, BC. These tribes share many aspects of their language and cultural traditions.
Community members reached out to Write to Read BC to discuss installing an Indigenous-led library in the Port Alberni area.
A library opening today in Nooaitch, BC, also represented a new kind of library for Write to Read BC. The new facility, near Merritt, BC, not only offers books and recorded media. It also has Internet-connected computers that offer remote access to courses and conferences. The Nooaitch library was Write to Read’s eleventh partnership to install libraries in isolated, Indigenous communities across BC.
At the Nooaitch opening, Chief Marcell Shackelly said the library is a tool that builds a vision for their band’s future.
The previous Chief, Joyce Sam, partnered with Write to Read BC to start the Nooaitch project. Sam is excited to see how the band will use the new building. “It’ll get us together,” she told a Merritt Herald reporter, adding that it’s a place for children to read quietly, or for learners to study for an exam. “All the tools are there, the resources are there,” Sam said.
The opening was a festive event. Judith Guichon, the lieutenant-governor of BC, also attended.
The village of Ditidaht opened its library in mid-September 2014, with community fanfare and visiting dignitaries. The library is the result of a partnership with Write to Read BC.
Cutting the ribbon were British royals, Prince Edward and Princess Sophie. Edward formally asked the permission to be on Ditidaht titled lands. Sophie was given a cedar band for her head, which had been woven for the occasion by one of Ditidaht’s eldest citizens, Sophie wore the headband throughout the visit. The royals were accompanied by the lieutenant-governor of BC Judith Guichon.
In addition to celebrating the library, the ceremony honoured Ditidaht schoolteacher Eva Clarke for envisioning a space for storytelling, theatre, and reading aloud. Clarke, with the Rotary Club and Write to Read BC, was instrumental in getting the library installed.
With this new library and community gathering place, the community hopes to promote literacy and learning for its younger members.
