The Quw’utsun’ Cultural and Conference Centre is not closing, according to a press release from Cowichan Tribes.
Previously the centre’s conference and event coordinator Lori Kinnaird said she was informed by Cowichan Tribes, which owns the facility and six-acre property, that it would close permanently at the end of May, but a March 11 release from Cowichan Tribes Chief William Seymour said the facility “remains open and operational and there are no plans at present to close its doors.”
In the March 11 release Seymour said that an assessment is currently ongoing to determine the “continued financial viability” of the centre but that plans to close it have not been finalized.
Previously, Kinnaird told the Citizen that the facility, which opened in 1990, is now in need of some major repairs to some of its structures, but “doesn’t make much money.”
The property, located next to the Cowichan River, consists of a number of facilities, including Comeakin Hall, the RiverWalk Café Patio and a courtyard.
It sits adjacent to the Tribes-owned Chances Casino and the former Vancouver Island University property.
In 1986, Cowichan Tribes outbid 20 other organizations for the property and bought it from Expo ’86.
In his release Seymour said that as the financial viability of the centre is assessed it “will continue to operate as a place to showcase the heritage of the Quw’utsun’ People and to raise the profile of Quw’utsun’ knitters, carvers and jewelry-makers as it has for the last 20 years.”
With a file from Robert Barron
