New NWAC Head Office Promotes Indigenous Culture, Economic Independence

The Native Women’s Association of Canada is looking forward to opening its new head office in a culturally appropriate space that has been created in downtown Gatineau, Que.

The Social and Economic Innovation Centre is a place that will help to foster the economic independence of First Nations, Metis and Inuit women, while showcasing their art and their culture. It is the first of its kind in the world.

It will also provide a revenue stream to NWAC that will diversify its funding streams.

The Centre is located across the street from the buildings that house the federal departments of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Indigenous Services.

Culturally inspired meeting rooms will provide the backdrop for workshops and teaching sessions. But those rooms can also be rented by outside parties, generating financial resources that will be directed to programs that serve the grassroots Indigenous women of Canada.

Some of the meeting rooms have been designed in a way that is distinctions based, with a First Nations room, an Inuit room and a Metis room. There is also a room dedicated to Grandmother Moon, a Cedar Room, a Healing Room and another that recreates a more traditional meeting space.

On the ground floor of the Centre is Café Bouleau, a café with some take out food items, specializing in artisanal coffee, pastries, and a special selection of bannock. NWAC is setting its sights in the future that will offer an Indigenous-infused menu incorporating foods grown in the building’s rooftop garden.

Also on the ground floor is a boutique, called Artisanelle, which will sell the artisan crafts of Indigenous women from across Canada and the Americas. Its shelves will be stocked with jewellery, dolls, artisan crafts, clothing and giftware, and other items that are hugely popular online. All of the profits will be returned to support NWAC programming.

The opening of the new Social and Economic Innovation Centre will mark the start of a new era for NWAC – one in which Indigenous women proudly chart the course of their own futures in a building of great beauty that reflects their traditions and heritage in new and innovative ways.