{"id":78731,"date":"2017-06-06T13:20:21","date_gmt":"2017-06-06T13:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/?p=78731"},"modified":"2017-06-06T13:20:21","modified_gmt":"2017-06-06T13:20:21","slug":"former-u-s-embassy-across-from-parliament-vacant-for-20-years-to-become-indigenous-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/former-u-s-embassy-across-from-parliament-vacant-for-20-years-to-become-indigenous-centre.html","title":{"rendered":"Former U.S. embassy across from Parliament, vacant for 20 years, to become Indigenous centre"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span>In the shadow of the Peace Tower, it is one of the most coveted pieces of real estate in Canada. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Now CBC News has learned the former site of the United States embassy, closed for nearly two decades, will become a space dedicated to Inuit, M<span class=\"scayt-misspell-word\">\u00e9<\/span>tis and First Nations communities. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>A government source says that officials have not determined the exact use for the federal heritage building considered by many to be an architectural gem in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Government officials will make a formal announcement about the building\u00a0later in June and launch consultations with Indigenous communities to help decide on a specific purpose\u200b.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Canada House,\u00a0Indigenous centre among ideas for former U.S. embassy<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Former U.S. embassy across from Parliament Hill to get new life<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">National portrait gallery gets bipartisan Senate support<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Under Jean Chr\u00e9tien, the building was slated to become a portrait gallery, but that plan was shelved when Stephen Harper came into power.<\/p>\n<p>The decision by Justin Trudeau&#8217;s government to dedicate the facility to Inuit, M\u00e9tis and First Nations people\u00a0is undoubtedly a political statement.<\/p>\n<p>Trudeau has committed to building a new relationship with Canada&#8217;s Indigenous people, though there have been struggles to fulfil some of his commitments, including the delays plaguing the inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.<\/p>\n<h2>Not the 1st choice in survey<\/h2>\n<p>Although there were public consultations about the use of this site, using it to recognize Inuit, M\u00e9tis and First Nations was not the most popular choice.<\/p>\n<p>A survey\u00a0conducted for the government by Ekos Research Associates suggested that\u00a0a &#8220;Canada House&#8221; to showcase the best of the provinces and territories was the favoured choice for the building. A gallery was the second choice, with an Indigenous cultural facility coming in third.<\/p>\n<p>Dedicating a building\u00a0that is just across the street from Parliament and the Prime Minister&#8217;s Office to Indigenous communities\u00a0is doubtless\u00a0intended to send a symbolic message.<\/p>\n<p>The future of the project will fall under the auspices of Indigenous and Northern Affairs as well as Public Services and Procurement Canada, which is responsible for the Parliamentary Precinct.<\/p>\n<p>There was no word on the timeline for the new facility.<\/p>\n<p>The government source says this decision for the property at 100 Wellington Street does not rule out the possibility of establishing a portrait gallery elsewhere at some other time.<\/p><\/p>\n<p>Article source: http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/former-us-embassy-indigenous-centre-1.4147342?cmp=rss<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the shadow of the Peace Tower, it is one of the most coveted pieces of real estate in Canada. Now CBC News has learned the former site of the United States embassy, closed for nearly two decades, will become a space dedicated to Inuit, M\u00e9tis and First Nations communities. A government source says that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-78731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}