Royal Roads plans aboriginal gathering site

"We are looking for authority to proceed," Cahoon said. "It would be part of the living laboratory that Royal Roads has become." Funding of up to $600,000 could be needed to create an "inclusive, respectful and educational site" that would recognize the university is on Coast Salish land and act as a gathering place for all nations, said aboriginal relations co-ordinator Greg Sam.

The university is also looking for new ways to respond to First Nations' educational needs and meet the needs of aboriginal leaders and the labour market, Cahoon said. "In the next decade, 400,000 aboriginal youth will meet the employment market age and we have a responsibility to meet with stakeholders to improve aboriginal student outcomes," he said.

More than 200 people attended the celebration powwow, which also marked the university's 15th birthday, with dancers from as far away as South Dakota and Ontario. Colourful regalias, such as a full eagle-feather headdress worn by Robert Rattling Buffalo, mixed with the more familiar Coast Salish regalia. The dances and regalia may be different, but all First Nations come to their music and dances with the same attitude, said Murray Sampson of Tsartlip First Nation.

"You can't bring any ugly feelings to your drum. Before we start singing and dancing, we have to prepare and pray to our creator," he said. "When we are singing and dancing, we are praying." The chants have words and different meanings, similar to songs in other languages, said Joseph Thorne of Cowichan Tribes. "We are not that much different, you and I. It's just that you need suntan lotion and I don't," he said.

The powwow will continue at Royal Roads until Thursday with storytelling today, an ethnobotany tour tomorrow and the traditional aboriginal game slahal and display of aboriginal crafts Thursday.

For more information, contact greg.1sam@royalroads.ca