Kelowna Capital News, May 13, 2014

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SENIORS

THE OKANAGAN College Coyotes baseball season ended in the quarter-finals of the Canadian College Baseball Conference championship last weekend in Lethbridge.

PLANS ARE in the works for a six-storey building at the corner of Ellis and Doyle in downtown Kelowna that will serve as an ‘incubator’ for new startup technology companies.

MAINTAINING a level of intimacy for seniors in relationships can help them to live a healthier lifestyle, says seniors’ fitness columnist Bobbi Kittle.

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TUESDAY May 13, 2014 The Central Okanagan’s Best-Read Newspaper www.kelownacapnews.com

▼ WEST KELOWNA

Lions Hall arson suspect arrested

Kathy Michaels

STAFF REPORTER

A Kelowna man has been charged with arson relating to a fire that all but razed a Westbank landmark. Kerry Robert Cooper, 30, appeared Monday morning in Kelowna Provincial Court to face a charge of arson—damage to property. “He was remanded in custody, to appear next on May 13, 2014, in Kelowna Provincial Court,” said Sgt. Wade Seversen in a press release. Rick Hebner, past president of Westbank Lions’ club, said a representative from the RCMP called the hall manager last Friday to say there had been an arrest in the investigation into who burned down the historic Lions’ Hall. “He told us somebody had been arrested, and that was it,” said Hebner. “It’s nice there’s been something done about that.” That said, Hebner pointed out that it will be more interesting to see how the courts treat Cooper. But the arrest doesn’t make up for the inconvenience experienced by community groups since the Sept. 1 2013 blaze, that have long relied on the facility. The District of West Kelowna used the Lion’s Hall for open houses and public meetings, while a number of service clubs used the smaller rooms for their meetings. Several tenants were displaced, as well as the Central Okanagan School District’s alternate school and several programs of the Okanagan Boys and Girls Club. “The rebuilding is about 50 per cent complete,” said Hebner, adding that means the exterior has been rebuilt. Final approvals on plans are slated for some time in the future, and Hebner said all the lingering unknowns amount to little more than more questions. “We honestly have no idea when we’ll be back,” he said. “It all depends on when the final approvals are given. There have been little bits of work here and there, but the majority of heavy labour has yet to be done.” The fire that engulfed the Westbank Lions Community Centre started around 8 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 1, and quickly spread through the original wooden hall portion, which dates back to 1928, and the adjoining section which was added in 1980. The entire building was renovated in 1980 when it was moved back from its original position nearer to the road and the addition was completed. Damage was estimated somewhere in the ballpark of $1 million. kmichaels@kelowncapnews.com

WADE PATERSON/CAPITAL NEWS

STUDENTS from École de l’Anse-au-sable are excited to be part of a canoe building project, which focuses on aboriginal history education. Westbank First Nation elder Richard Louis (left) is leading the project.

▼ CANOE PROJECT

Teaching a First Nations history lesson Wade Paterson STAFF REPORTER

A large, hollowed out piece of black cottonwood is sitting in the foyer at École de l’Anse-au-sable, waiting to be transformed into a canoe. As the tree is carved into a narrow boat using traditional methods, students are learning what the canoe represents for First Nations people, and why it’s an important part of their history. The francophone school has

partnered with Le Centre cultural francophone de l’Okanagan and Westbank First Nation as part of an aboriginal awareness project, which has received $10,000 in funding from the Central Okanagan Foundation. “It’s opening the door of (French) culture to meet the aboriginal culture, and possibly to learn from each other,” said Jean Savoie, a teacher at École de l’Anse-au-sable. “We’re hoping the aboriginal elders will continue to come to

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our school and tell us their story: It’s an incredible story.” Elder Richard Louis, a former cowboy and saddle maker, is leading the carving project. He learned the craft of building canoes from his grandfather and some of his uncles, and began building them himself in the early 1990s. He said the purpose of the school project goes further than simply showing the students how a canoe is built. “It’s getting the two cul-

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tures together and getting them to understand what our culture is and what it used to be,” said Louis. That lesson begins by teaching the students to respect the canoe as well as the water it will eventually travel on. “The water is very, very important to us: It’s part of our life. “The canoe was used to go from one community to the other;

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