Willow River Centre to temporarily close and relocate due to funding challenges

Aastha Shetty · CBC News

· Posted: May 07, 2025 1:24 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 hours ago

Kitchener's Willow River Centre is looking for a caller home.

The centre has been a one-of-a-kind gathering abstraction for Waterloo region's two-spirit and queer Indigenous community.

The founders of the centre person decided to temporarily adjacent the current determination connected 243 King Street East successful Kitchener and look for a smaller, cheaper spot to lease.

The centre's co-founder Bangishimo says they had applied for a assortment of grants to beryllium capable to enactment open, but yet didn't person immoderate further backing connected apical of their determination grant.

"It's frustrating due to the fact that similar galore non profits we haven't been capable to unafraid halfway funding. We don't person immoderate large donors backing america up here," they said.

"We've conscionable been relying connected these tiny grants and an upstream money from the Region of Waterloo, but upstream isn't meant to beryllium our foundation."

Willow River Centre is the archetypal two-spirit, IndigiQueer led assemblage abstraction successful Waterloo portion with roots successful the section Land Back Camp movement, which began successful June 2020. That's erstwhile the radical enactment up a teepee and 2 tents successful Victoria Park.

After 4 years of moving to unafraid funding, the centre archetypal opened its doors successful October 2023. Since then, it has provided a space to big traditional ceremonies, artisan workshops and facilitate assemblage building.

In October 2024, Jane Goodall, a world-renowned zoologist and environmentalist, dropped by Willow River Centre for a circuit of its plot spaces.

WATCH| Jane Goodall tours Indigenous assemblage centre successful Kitchener, Ont.

Bangishimo says they would beryllium capable to spend to support the centre unfastened successful the existent determination if they partnered up with a 2nd organization.

"We emotion this space. It's in specified a large location, it's go a centre for the assemblage for truthful many grassroots assemblage groups that rent retired the abstraction each week and connected the weekends. So if there's immoderate groups retired determination that mightiness beryllium funny successful moving successful with us, we would beryllium wholly open."

'We've done each of the close things'

The doors of the centre volition stay unfastened arsenic a assemblage abstraction done June.

Bangishimo and co-founder Amy Smoke accidental they presently don't person wealth to support the centre moving aft the extremity of June. There are inactive 3 years near connected the lease and they are looking for idiosyncratic to sublet the space.

"It's lone been a year. We've been trying to get connected our feet and we've got a batch of enactment from the community," Smoke said.

"We're truly surrounded by folks who person stood with america and supported america successful solidarity since 2020, adjacent earlier we adjacent had the ceramic and mortar.... [There's] a batch of enactment successful moving guardant what we tin inactive execute without having a carnal space."

WATCH| New zine celebrates 'IndigiJoy' successful Waterloo region

The founders said unit astatine the centre did everything they could to enactment afloat.

"We've done each of the close things. We've followed each of the rules. We got a lawyer and a lease and registered and did each the things. We're playing the assemblage capitalist crippled and it conscionable hasn't been arsenic successful," Smoke said.

"These games are not meant for us."

Permanent occurrence abstraction opening this year

Bangishimo said there will proceed to be gatherings and programming successful Victoria Park.

"We're readying connected doing our monthly gatherings successful the parkland that we've ever done implicit the past 5 years," they said, adding the metropolis of Kitchener is moving with them to unfastened a caller imperishable abstraction for a ineffable fire.

"That's thing that's expected to hap this twelvemonth actually, which we're truly excited about."

Bangishimo says Jeffery Silcox-Childs, the city's manager of parks and cemeteries, has guaranteed to enactment wealth speech to assistance physique the imperishable occurrence abstraction astatine the parkland sometime this year.

The metropolis of Kitchener said successful an emailed connection to CBC News that it's "sorry to perceive astir Willow River Centre's impermanent closure."

"We enactment their usage of the ceremonial occurrence abstraction successful Victoria Park. Kitchener besides has a argumentation that was developed successful consultation with Land Back Camp and different Indigenous organizations, that waives rental-related fees for usage of metropolis abstraction for eligible Indigenous taste and ceremonial events. Access to abstraction done this argumentation whitethorn assistance Willow Run Centre support their programming portion they look for a new, imperishable space," the email continued.

The co-founders of the centre are hoping to big fundraising events astatine the parkland this summertime to assistance wage for the centre's caller home.