ADDITIONIONAL Wakinyan Awasis SITE COMPONENTS

The size and scope of the site does require some basic building and resource components, among them: washrooms, maintenance equipment storage and a facility for some activities of staff.

Visiting An Epic Site
The community consultative process in Winnipeg in June of 2003 and Toronto in October of 2005 clearly related a sense of the epic nature of the Awasis Sacred Site, its layout and sculptural works. There was a sense that standing in and moving about the work would be a powerful experience that one would want to focus on, take in and even be changed by. In this regards it was repeatedly voiced that the work of the site should stand alone and not be compete with or be distracted by adjoined facilities.

Children’s Interpretive Centre
A modest building on the site would be dedicated to the role and history of childhood in the native communities and families. In honour of the visionary, healing and great holy man Black Elk it is proposed to name the facility the Black Elk Interpretive Centre for the History of Childhoods in the Native Communities and Family.

The Toronto Harbour area provides a variety of points overlooking the Toronto Harbour, city skyline and could also incorporate a degree of natural trees vegetation. These views could provide a dramatic urban and indigenous nature vista of Toronto. This type of setting would make a remarkable location for a floor to ceiling windowed building that combined site office, indoors information area and washrooms. A 5,000 to 10,000 sq.ft. building could allow for the needed facilities. This building, though small, should be exceptional aboriginal architecture with building trimming, ornamentation and furnishings incorporating an extraordinary high degree of artistic adornment.

A location in the port lands or another area with larger adjoining expanse could allow for a larger facility taking in a much broader scope of the history of childhood in the native communities.

Outdoor School and Public Event Area
Directly outside the circle of the sculptural site pathway a large open area can be created that would be covered in grass and designed to provide a multi-use outdoor classroom, gathering and group activity area. A grouping of cement pads with seasonal canvas awning could provide work areas for small gathering, exhibitions, and activity centres for daytime summer arts camps.

In addition to school use this area may serve for summer programs and other use by visitors to the site.

Annual Aboriginal Sculpture Symposiums
The public event area can provide a site for an Annual Aboriginal Sculpture Symposium with the goal of creating eight to twelve Aboriginal stone monument sculpture each year. In these Sculpture Symposiums four to six emerging Aboriginal sculptors would work with each of the accomplished Aboriginal sculptors to create a stone monument work over a month period. The young sculptors get a chance to work with a renowned sculptor and the professional sculptors will make a contribution to the Awasis Legacy. The intention would be to have the works placed around the immediate area and region of the Awasis Sacred Site. In a decade there would be more than one hundred Aboriginal monument works added to public places in the region creating a dramatic footprint of Toronto as a centre of Aboriginal communities and art.

Native Healing Centre
Wakinyan Awasis: Thunderbird Place for Honouring the Spirit of the Child is a place of spirit and healing. As such, it is only appropriate that the site should have healing facilities for the work of elders. Amenities to facilitate the healing and spiritual activities of elders on site would be a private room for consultation and counselling; storage space for required materials and supplies; an area for small group ceremonial feast after sweats; change and shower rooms for men and women; and an outdoor area, that is set aside and designed for discrete privacy in mind, for a sweat lodge for performing sweat ceremonies for 8 to 16 people at a time. In honour of his services to the urban native community it is proposed the healing facilities be named the Vern Harper Native Elders Healing Lodge.

Sweat Lodge within a Longhouse
Elder Harper proposed to resolve the privacy needs of the sweat lodge activities through placement of a healing and ceremonial sweat lodge within the structure of a longhouse. This will allow visitors and teaching about ceremony and the sweat lodge through entrance and passage through the longhouse when formal sweats and ceremonies are not taking place. Additionally the end openings of the longhouse can be closed to the touring public for a clear sense of privacy to be created for healing or ceremonial sweats in the traditional sweat lodge.

Maintenance Storage and Staff Building
The site will require some form of adjoining facility to provided needs of maintenance, allows for servicing equipment and has some grounds keeping storage. This facility need to have and location and access in a manner that does not interfere with the Sacred Site and its visitors and activities.

International Presence of First Nations/Aboriginal Culture
The prestige of the Awasis site will draw visitors on an unprecedented international scale in North America. The renown of Awasis justifies serious consideration of adjoining facilities of a National Aboriginal Arts Gallery, an Aboriginal Design/Themed Hotel, Aboriginal Art Galleries, Aboriginal Business Incubator for International Commerce, Tourism Businesses for Northern Bands and a wide variety of other First Nation, Aboriginal, Inuit and Métis businesses. When one considers the hundreds of thousands of visitors annually that will be drawn to Awasis the potential of related and allied commerce is significant.