A place to breathe
New First Peoples’ Gathering House honours the past to shape the future at 91ܽ
A place to gather, learn, breathe, and heal — the newly-opened First Peoples’ Gathering House stands proudly along the ceremonial walkway at SFU's Burnaby campus.
Construction of the House began in April, 2023. But the push for dedicated spaces for Indigenous students, faculty and staff at SFU goes back decades.
“There was nothing for Indigenous students when I was studying here, there really was nothing,” recalls Eldon Yellowhorn, SFU professor of Indigenous studies.
Yellowhorn, who comes from the Piikani Nation, earned his master's degree in archaeology at SFU in 1993. He became the first person of Indigenous origin to be hired as faculty in 1998 and led early advocacy efforts for what is now the Indigenous Student Centre.
“We just wanted a footprint on campus, a place to meet. There was no central place, no sense of cohesion or community,” he says. “There was general support for our requests for a dedicated space [from university leadership], but the requests were so novel they didn’t know how to respond.”
These requests became a recurring feature in conversations with the university’s leadership over several decades.
Slowly, things began to change. The First Nations Student Association established a common room in the Rotunda in the mid-1990s. The First Nations Student Centre, in Maggie Benston Building, opened in 1996. It moved to a larger location in the Academic Quadrangle in 2014 and became the Indigenous Student Centre, providing Indigenous students with access to a kitchen, computer lab, study area, as well as the Elders Room.
The First People's Gathering House addresses a call to action in SFU’s 2017 Walk this Path with Us Report to “reinvigorate long-delayed plans for creating a culturally appropriate ceremonial hall and space”.
Our gratitude to the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) Nation representatives and SFU faculty, staff and students who have taken part in engagement sessions and consultations to define the vision, select the site, develop the design and bring the First Peoples’ Gathering House to life.
Ron Johnston, former director of the Office for Aboriginal Peoples at SFU, has been an integral part of advocacy efforts for a gathering house, both as an Indigenous student at SFU in the late 1990s and then later as co-lead on the First Peoples’ Gathering House project.
“It’s been a challenging journey over the years, finding funding, space and the pandemic caused significant barriers as well,” says Johnston, who comes from the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) Nation.
“For me it’s been close to a 30-year journey and I’ve seen it from different perspectives. I am delighted it’s finally opening, we’ve been waiting a long time!
"First Nations longhouses are sacred places in our communities where our ceremonies, protocols and oral histories are held up and practised. The First Peoples’ Gathering House will provide a significant Indigenous presence at SFU and will be a special place were Indigenous culture, teaching and learning take place as we move forward together on our Truth and Reconciliation healing journey.”
Today, SFU has a number of Indigenous spaces across each of its three campuses. Now there is a striking focal point at the heart of the main Burnaby campus.
“These things don’t happen overnight, sometimes they take time,” says Chris (Syeta’xtn) Lewis, Indigenous executive lead at SFU.
“The journey started, I would say, in the late ‘90s, early 2000s, where we started envisioning our own longhouse, our own cultural hub, to support Indigenous students, faculty and staff. There was this notion that we need these places so that we can really build a home away from home, but also a place where people feel safe to be who they are and express their traditions and customs.”
The new building is an important milestone on SFU’s journey to upholding Truth and Reconciliation and a beautiful example of honouring host nations and Indigenous peoples, says SFU president and vice-chancellor Joy Johnson.
“It's been a long journey. There are a number of Indigenous faculty and staff who have been advocating for this building for years, and a lot of us who were hoping it into reality,” she says.
“I'm just overwhelmed with how beautiful it is and how you see the symbols of the host nations in this building. It really is a beautiful example of the way in which we can honour the host nations and Indigenous peoples.”
Officially opening its doors September 12, 2025, years of advocacy for this building have paid off. Now the House begins its own journey.
"First Nations longhouses are sacred places in our communities where our ceremonies, protocols and oral histories are held up and practised.
The First Peoples’ Gathering House will provide a significant Indigenous presence at SFU and will be a special place were Indigenous culture, teaching and learning take place as we move forward together on our Truth and Reconciliation healing journey.”
— Ron Johnston, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) Nation
Paddling together
“A rising tide lifts all canoes. That's equity. That's justice. That's a human rights framework. And whatever [people did] in the canoe, whether it was 10 years ago or one meeting, all of that good medicine has led up to this moment.”
SFU alumnus Melanie Mark was the first person in her family to attend and graduate from university. She then became the first Indigenous woman to serve in the B.C. cabinet, and spoke at the Ground Awakening ceremony for the First Peoples’ Gathering House in 2020 as Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Training.
“I believe this new space will successfully empower Indigenous students to reach their academic goals and aspirations,” she says. “That is a win for them personally, a win for SFU and a win for society at large.”
“There's a lot of focus on what Indigenous communities have gone through, but Indigenous joy also needs to be a part of the narrative around Indigeneity on campus.
I really see First Peoples’ Gathering House as a hub for that Indigenous joy and celebration in our community.”
— Kaylena Ryan, associate director, Indigenous Student Centre
A House for seven generations and beyond
The sprawling Burnaby campus can leave some Indigenous students feeling overwhelmed or intimidated, according to Kaylena Ryan, associate director of SFU’s Indigenous Student Centre. First Peoples’ Gathering House is now a prominent safe space where they can go to feel connected to their home communities.
“There's a lot of focus on what Indigenous communities have gone through, but Indigenous joy also needs to be a part of the narrative around Indigeneity on campus,” Ryan says. “I really see First Peoples’ Gathering House as a hub for that Indigenous joy and celebration in our community.”
Fourth-year Indigenous Studies honours student Kaia Haintz agrees.
"This new space shows that we're here. We're still here,” she says. “This is the beauty of our culture.”
The House will be used for teaching, learning, gathering and ceremony, but also for weaving, basketry, and other forms of making. It features the only dedicated maker space of any longhouse in the Lower Mainland.
“There are people who say each living being is put on this planet with a purpose towards assistance, survivance, thrivance, for all of us to thrive," says annie ross, Indigenous Studies professor. “Making is a part of that; it’s never just making. It demands an entire relationship with so many principles and protocols that ensure generosity and thinking of others at all times.”
An artist of Maya and Irish blood, ross says she had never imagined such a space existing on a university campus.
“Western science tends to focus on breaking things down into the most miniscule particle it could possibly be, but for Indigenous people, there is no breaking apart. It's about putting it back together; that’s what making is,” says ross. “I believe making is the path to peace. Having this space is a miracle in my world.”
Building the foundation for collaboration, transformation and belonging
First Peoples’ Gathering House has been a journey of collaboration, understanding, and learning with Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities working together from start to finish, says Paul Cowcher, associate director of development at SFU and senior project manager of the House project.
But more than that, he says it’s been a “personal journey of understanding, listening to the oral histories of the mountain, learning from Indigenous consultants, and collaborating with local artists from the Nations.”
As SFU president and vice-chancellor, Joy Johnson recognizes the most exciting part of First Peoples’ Gathering House isn’t the building itself; it’s what will happen there for generations to come.
“This is a place where students can feel at home, see symbols from their community, and engage in ceremony and interactions with Elders and each other," she says. “This space will be transformational.”
As Lewis explains, students begin their journey at SFU as one person and leave as another, forever changed through new life experiences and academic pursuits.
“We can give them back to their community as a transformed student, and their families can know they've been well taken care of and blanketed in the rightful way during their time and journey here at 91ܽ,” Lewis says.
Story by Robyn Stubbs and Sam Smith
Project architecture and design by .
Projet construction by
