When Catherine Twinn looks at the land east of the Sawridge Inn and Conference Centre, she doesn’t  see the forest or the trees. She sees potential; the potential to build a cultural and heritage centre to showcase aboriginal life and the local community all at the same time, the potential to complete her band’s vision for their property in Jasper.

“Jasper has a lot of richness in its people,” said Twinn, “but people are asking where are the native people and culture?”

The Sawridge as it exists today was built by the band in 1983 but the Cree nation from the Edmonton area always had the intention to create something more than a resort property.

According to Catherine Twinn, a verbal committment was made at the time to provide land for a cultural centre, provided everything went well for the hotel development.

22 years on, the hotel business is thriving. With similar properties in Slave Lake and Fort McMurray, the Sawridge band has built a small empire of acclaimed accomodations.

After the passing of Twinn’s husband, Senator Walter Twinn, the question of zoning for the adjoining land became a concern. The land, referred to as Parcel CH, is classified community reserve land, meaning that while future development is not stricly limited to residential properties, nothing built on the land can be primarily concerned with commerce.

That’s fine with Twinn, who articulated her vision to Parks Canada officials in a series of meetings held around the turn of the last century.

“We’d be looking at it from a lens of a multi-use facility,” she said. This could conceivably include housing units as well as a cultural or heritage centre.

“The residential component is needed by the community, but a cultural space is needed also.”

Twinn believes that a facility that incorporates four key concepts is what is needed for the space. She defines these ideals through the acronym HECH.

Twinn would like to see the future centre telling history, educating, promoting culture and assisting in healing of the human and natural world.

The conversations she had with Jasper National Park superintendent Ron Hooper and then regional director (and current CEO) Alan Latourelle left Twinn with reason to hope.

“As I understood it, Parks Canada supported the concept,” she said.

Fast forward five years, and little progress has been made towards a formal arrangement for the land, let alone any actual construction. From Parks Canada’s perspective, any future action depends on the Sawridge band.

“A number of years ago we had a meeting and she indicated that there was an interest to build a cultural interpretive centre on that land,” Ron Hooper recalled. The Sawridge were undertaking a feasability study, he said, but added that he had not heard anything about the project since. The opportunity exists for further discussion on the matter whenever the Sawridge are interested.

“As long as the primary function is not commerical, it could be acceptable,” Hooper said in reference to the zoning requirements. What the details of land release and so on might look like will be determined by what might be involved in the project, he added.

“It would depend on the nature of the proposal.”

Parks is eager to become more involved with efforts to celebrate and disseminate aboriginal culture and history in the area, he said.

“Jasper and Parks Canada in general really is seeking opportunities to enhance and tell the story of aboriginal people...we just have so much to do in Jasper to work with aboriginal groups. We need to involve them in the management of the Park but also in telling the story of aboriginal history.”

That said, one major development since the discussions between Hooper and Twinn might prove to be a bit of a stumbling block. In the housing study prepared in 2002, the land near the Sawridge was identified as a possible area for future staff accomodation buildings.

Any plans for an interpretive centre on that land would require discussions within the community about housing needs and land availability, Hooper said.

Twinn is convinced that developing a complex that is strictly devoted to housing in that part of Jasper would be a mistake.

“If you do high density housing for low incomes there, you alienate people by putting them on the edge of town,” she said. “That’s not very healthy.”

Some of the facilities Twinn would see incorporated into a centre include a theatre or lecture hall, a high-tech museum area, public space and possibly housing units.

Beyond presenting aspects of regional and aboriginal culture and history, Twinn believes that a centre could become a venue for educational programming dealing with topics ranging from aboriginal justice to international human rights.

“There’s tonnes and tonnes of opportunities to create a really energized environment of information and exchange,” she said. “I met with Grant McEwan College and other institutions and asked if they would consider bringing their students here and they were completely excited about it.”

Ultimately, Twinn believes a cultural heritage centre would go well beyond serving the interests of a specifc group of people.

“It’s a place that would be beneficial for everyone,” she said. “We’d be connecting segments of our universe in a way that’s quite beautiful.”

The more Twinn talks about the prospective site, the more excited she becomes.

“The topography of the bench behind us really provides the ideal environment for an outdoor ampitheatre,” she said. Informed that there are local groups working towards the creation of an arts and culture space in Jasper, Twinn sounds eager to work with them.

“The key is bringing people together to achieve the vision,” she said. “It’s hard for people to make a change.

“I hope that with some new energy we can continue the dialogue.”