It being the resort’s largest social- service provider, it’s clear to see how the Whistler Community Services Society (WCSS) helps facilitate Whistler’s well-being.
But Whistler’s Indigenous museum, the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre (SLCC), has also played a vital role in caring for the community as it undergoes the challenging work of Truth and Reconciliation.
“[This program] talks about what the SLCC is and how we serve the community, how we really were an essential service in this community in the past towards reconciliation, and a resource,” said Heather Paul, executive director of the SLCC.
The program Paul is referring to is a partnership between the cultural centre and WCSS to deliver free and accessible workshops in Indigenous cultural awareness, led by elders and ambassadors from the Squamish and Lil’wat Nations themselves.
“The goal was to really trigger and level up a journey towards reconciliation for Whistler,” Paul said. “It’s really to have you, when you leave that room, witness into yourself and into the world around you how colonization has really given [non-Indigenous Canadians] privilege and an advantage, and where it’s built everywhere into the systems around you. It’s not meant to hurt you or shock you; it’s meant to refocus your vision a little bit. A change of perspective.” Read the full Pique article here