The Ullus Community Complex stands tall above the lower site of the Mount Currie Indian Reserve near Pemberton.
A rather non-descript building save for steel siding and carved house posts at its entrance, its sheer size accommodates a gym, cultural centre and band offices, making it the unquestionable heart of the community.
On this day, a sunny Thursday afternoon, its parking lot is filled with cars from throughout the valley, from the Village of Pemberton, D'Arcy and Mount Currie's outlying areas. They have come in a spirit of co-operation for a wellness gathering that they hope will become an annual event.
Inside, both Caucasian and aboriginal faces welcome hundreds of guests to a trade show, exhibition and dinner that are open to everyone.
This gathering is the fruit of efforts by the Winds of Change committee to bring these communities together. It's a joint initiative between the Village of Pemberton and the Mount Currie Band of the Lil'wat Nation that aims to reduce harm associated with drugs and alcohol by making health services and resources open to both communities.
It's a partnership formed from tragedy. In 2002, 15-year-old Mount Currie resident Ross Leo was beaten dead in an alcohol-fueled altercation in a wooded area near Signal Hill Elementary School. Pemberton and Mount Currie residents visited their respective councils and expressed profound sadness at the incident.
The outcry brought Pemberton and Mount Currie together to create Winds of Change in November 2004, a joint task force to look at drugs and alcohol as a shared problem for both communities.
Former Pemberton Mayor Elinor Warner and Mount Currie Councillor Joanne John were the task force's first co-chairs. The two hold joint council meetings and form a regular presence at each other's events - but participants say there's still work left to do.
Sheldon Tetreault, a former administrator with the Mount Currie Band who has been involved in Winds of Change since its beginning, said the central mandate for the committee is threefold: education, awareness and lobbying.
"The awareness-building is creating awareness that there's service available to people," he said, looking out on a gymnasium with presentations from health professionals such as massage therapists, karate instructors and representatives from the Lil'wat Wellness Centre.
"The education, like the stuff we're doing, at the workshops we're taking a topic and saying you can learn a bit more and try to support that."
Lobbying is also a key part of the committee's work. Tetreault himself has trawled around for funding to help establish a recovery centre in the Pemberton Valley where drug and alcohol addicts can rest on the way to getting treatment for their illnesses. He's gone to the Vancouver Foundation and Vancouver Coastal Health in search of funds, but thus far he's come up short.
"We need to find a model that will work here," he said. "The people we've brought in to advise have looked at it in the traditional way that treatment centres are funded and operated. And in that model they won't put one here."
Population and access, Tetreault said, are two barriers stopping a centre from setting up in the valley.
"Because your largest client base will be in the Lower Mainland, they'll site it there," he said. "Or in a region. So Prince George will get one, not here. So we're considered inter-land."
Lobbying and education, of course, haven't been the only focus of a committee with an annual budget of $12,500, money contributed by Pemberton, the band and the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD). Equally important has been the fact that Winds of Change has helped build an important relationship between communities with disparate histories.
In Pemberton, you have a community born out of the gold rush that has since become a hub for agriculture and tourism. In Mount Currie, you have a community whose people, the Stl'atl'imx, have stood by and watched as settlers have come to their land and profited off territory they have lived on for centuries.
Clearly, a bridge is needed between the two communities.
The Winds of Change committee has certainly seen movement on various issues. In 2006 it got a grant from the Union of British Municipalities to do a feasibility study into a drug and alcohol treatment centre in the valley, the very same for which Tetreault has been seeking funding.
The next year, funding came through the UBCM Seniors in Communities Pilot Project to develop a Senior and Elder (Age) Community Plan to help address seniors housing, transportation, recreation and access to medical services.
Even with these initiatives under its belt, committee members feel there's more work to be done.
Felicity Nelson, a member of Mount Currie council who holds the wellness portfolio, said in an interview that the committee has helped create awareness by compiling a directory of health resources in the valley - more than she knew existed. It has also helped bring the communities closer.
"I think for me it's made it closer," she said. "I think there was a time when Pemberton was over here and we were over there, and now I think people, and I think after today, we'll become more aware of who's where and it's been a real mix of people working together from three communities."
Susie Gimse, a member of Pemberton council and director of Area C of the SLRD, sat with Nelson at the welcome table. She said the wellness gathering was a way to raise the profile of the committee's work and build understanding of what's out there.
Has it done its job?
"I think we can do a better job," she said constructively. "I think we're on the right path and you know, this event really is the kickoff to a new approach in how we move forward with Winds of Change."
At 3:30 in the afternoon, over 100 people had come to visit Ullus, not including exhibitors and well before dinner had been served. That alone should demonstrate how much awareness is growing.
