Skwachàys Lodge, for an arty stay near Vancouver’s Chinatown
With each of the social enterprise’s 18 rooms decorated by a First Nations artist, no two suites are alike at this Downtown Eastside hotel
What is it? Skwachàys (pronounced skwatch-eyes) Lodge is a First Nations-themed social enterprise hotel in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. Its urban setting is convenient for the popular tourist areas of Gastown and Chinatown. Skwachàys is the traditional name for the area in which the property stands.
Wait, what’s a social enterprise? A business model that uses commercial strategies to improve the financial and social well-being of an underprivileged group. In this case, the 18-room hotel subsidises living and studio space for 24 First Nations artists, some of whose work can be purchased in the ground-floor gallery.
Tell me about the First Nations. These are the people who were here before the French, British, Chinese and others arrived in Canada. The Canadian constitution distinguishes three aboriginal groups: First Nations, Métis and Inuit. The early Métis, or people of mixed blood, were the children of fur traders and indigenous women. The Inuits are the original residents of Arctic Canada.
The other aboriginals are all lumped together under the First Nations umbrella – and it’s a big umbrella. There are 617 First Nations communities in Canada, 198 of them in British Columbia. Like aboriginal people around the world, they struggle to hold on to their culture in a meaningful way in the 21st century.
