Dialogues for Promoting Indigenous Spirituality and Culture
Celebrating our Stories
Since 1972, the Woodland Cultural Centre has remained a beacon of Indigenous resilience and creativity, standing proud and resilient against systemic cultural erasure.
Despite living within the walls of the former Mohawk Institute Residential School, it has become one of Canada’s most significant Indigenous-led cultural institutions. Today, it preserves more than 50,000 artifacts and delivers vital language, arts, and education programming for Hodinohsho:ni and other Indigenous communities. Nevertheless, the dark history etched into the physical walls of the Centre have not been forgotten, and as the building ages, the community is looking to find the Centre a new home.
Dwadę̨ ’nyota’ Dwaga:’shǫ:’ǫh or “We Celebrate Our Stories”, is a bold and transformative project to build a new Cultural Centre. It will be designed by Indigenous-led Two Row Architect and include a climate-controlled museum, state-of-the-art theatre, educational spaces, and outdoor land-based learning areas rooted in traditional knowledge. The Centre will stand beside the fully restored Mohawk Institute, Canada’s oldest residential school, allowing for both truth and reflection to be held in the same space. Here, Elders, survivors, youth, and visitors can gather to learn, heal, and celebrate Hodinohsho:ni culture.
Recognizing the profound purpose of this project, the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund (IRF) is honoured to support this new centre. It will become a critical cultural hub containing priceless history and a reminder to Indigenous Peoples that they have persevered despite the odds. The IRF’s contribution will protect irreplaceable cultural knowledge, strengthen language revitalization, and create a national space for reconciliation through truth, learning, and art. This Centre will be a place where stories are not only remembered but celebrated.
Diocese of Hamilton
