A new Indigenous gathering space is coming to Kitchener this summer. The City of Kitchener said the Indigenous Peoples Gathering Space will be installed in the southwest corner of Victoria Park. It comes after a consultation process with local Indigenous groups started in 2020. Amy Smoke, co-director of O:se Kenhionhata:tie/Willow River Center, said it is about time a space like this was made. “We’re one of the biggest regions that doesn’t have a Friendship Centre - it doesn’t have a gathering space for First Nations, Métis and Inuit folks,” Smoke told CTV News. The design of the space is based on the Indigenous Thirteen Moons and Turtle teachings. The City of Kitchener said Smoke and Bangishimo have acted as consultants and helped develop the space. “To start creating these fire spaces on the land is so important to how we gather, where we gather,” Smoke said. Smoke said the location for the new space is key and it being outdoors is necessary. “We don’t go into a building to honor our cultural traditions and our connections to the land and to all of our medicines,” Smoke said. Construction is set to begin sometime in the spring. The city said the gathering space will open in summer 2026 and will be available for bookings by local Indigenous groups year-round. “Honouring the original caretakers of this land and creating spaces where members of local Indigenous communities can come together and celebrate their traditions is an important part of being responsible stewards of this land,” Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said in a news release from the city. Smoke hopes more spaces like this open up across southwestern Ontario.
