Eshikatiut Tshukuminu Innu-Natukuna Pavilion in Ekuanitshit

Located in the heart of the Innu community of Ekuanitshit, the Eshikatiut Tshukuminu Innu-Natukuna Pavilion was designed to provide permanent accommodation for two community organizations offering programs dedicated to the women of Ekuanitshit. Through a collaborative process involving public consultations and a series of meetings, the building’s program, plan and design were developed collaboratively with the community and members of the two groups that will occupy it.

The Eshikatiut Tshukuminu project, which translates as “knowledge from our grandmothers”, enables the transmission of traditional skills and crafts from one generation to the next. These include hide-tanning, beadwork, and snowshoe-weaving, along with the making of traditional clothing, moccasins, toys and jewelry . The Innu-Natukuna project, which means “traditional medicine”, enables the Ekuanitshinnuat to pass on their knowledge of how to gather, dry and process plants from the territory to make remedies, ointments, infusions, syrups, salves and soaps.

The building was designed to be environmentally-friendly and promotes the use of wood in its construction, inline with the community’s values surrounding sustainability. Artwork by Innu artists will also be incorporated into the building’s architecture, and will celebrate Ekuanitshit’s talent and know-how in a unique and imaginative way.

IN THE NEWS (in French only):

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1812175/pavillon-culturel-ekuanitshit-infrastructure-transmission

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2007062/medecine-savoir-pharmacie-pavillon-ekuanitshit

Production workshop and drying room

Hide treatment workshop

Craft workshop / multi-purpose hall