Kanata celebrates grand reopening

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As Kanata geared up for the tourist season last year, they suffered a crippling blow. Arsonists hit the 17th century tourist site on the evening of May 8 and set fire to the palisade surrounding the village. The main longhouse caught fire and was destroyed in a matter of minutes. Kanata suffered structural damage totalling $150,000 and loss of tourist revenue. The arsonist(s) have not yet been apprehended.

The day after Kanata's longhouse and adjoining palisade were destroyed, Skip Pennell, Kanata administrator, spoke with optimism as he said that they would rebuild the structure.

Rebuilding plans began immediately. Through fundraising, government assistance and donations, Kanata raised enough money to rebuild the longhouse. They launched an "adopt-a-pole" fundraising campaign and sold cedar poles for $25 each, which also helped in the rebuilding.

Grand River Employment and Training and Human Resources Development Canada assisted with hiring construction workers. A crew of approximately 15 Native people worked for eight months on the structure.

On Feb. 28, Pennell was joined by city and provincial politicians at the grand reopening of the Kanata village longhouse that was appropriately called the Phoenix Project.

"The grand opening day ceremonies were successful," said Aaron Bell, assistant manager at Kanata. "We had over 200 people attend the opening ceremonies, which lasted until 6 p.m."

The opening festivities began at 1 p.m. and included a fish fry, Ojibway storytelling and dancing by the Gonrah Desgohwah White Pine Dancers.

Kanata staff are working on plans for a second longhouse and are awaiting delivery of a second set of palisade poles, which they will erect in the near future.

The new longhouse is 48 feet long, 24 feet wide and 24 feet high. It consists of 1,400 cedar poles and 22,000 square feet of bark. Cost of re-building was $254,000. Cost of the poles and bark remained exactly the same as when Pennell purchased them in 1997 when the original longhouse was built.