{"id":106849,"date":"2026-07-15T13:27:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T17:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=106849"},"modified":"2026-07-15T13:27:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T17:27:43","slug":"new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\/","title":{"rendered":"New gathering space marks major milestone for Cold Lake FirstNations"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Chantel Downes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Lakeland This Week The nation officially broke ground on the new Community Gathering Space on June 19. The facility will be located between Hotel Dene and Casino Dene along Highway 28 and is expected to accommodate up to 750 guests. Once complete, the space will be used for community celebrations, cultural gatherings, conferences, trade shows, markets, meetings, weddings, and other special events. It will also directly connect Hotel Dene and Casino Dene, strengthening the nation’s hospitality and tourism offerings. Shawna Janvier, CEO of Hotel Dene & Conference Centre and Casino Dene, said the Community Gathering Space has been years in the making. \u201cIt’s been in the planning stages for about five years or so, most of that being in the last three years…. <\/p>\n

\n
\n
This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription – Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.
Register<\/a><\/div>\n
Already a member? Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Chantel Downes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Lakeland This Week The nation officially broke ground on the new Community Gathering Space on June 19. The facility will be located between Hotel Dene and Casino Dene along Highway 28 and is expected to accommodate up to 750 guests. Once complete, the space will be used for community celebrations, cultural gatherings, conferences, trade shows, markets, meetings, weddings, and other special events. It will also directly connect Hotel Dene and Casino Dene, strengthening the nation’s hospitality and tourism offerings. Shawna Janvier, CEO of Hotel Dene & Conference Centre and Casino Dene, said the Community Gathering Space has been years in the making. \u201cIt’s been in the planning stages for about five years or so, most of that being in the last three years.... <\/p>\n

This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.
Register<\/a><\/div>
Already a member? Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nNew gathering space marks major milestone for Cold Lake FirstNations - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New gathering space marks major milestone for Cold Lake FirstNations - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Chantel Downes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Lakeland This Week The nation officially broke ground on the new Community Gathering Space on June 19. The facility will be located between Hotel Dene and Casino Dene along Highway 28 and is expected to accommodate up to 750 guests. Once complete, the space will be used for community celebrations, cultural gatherings, conferences, trade shows, markets, meetings, weddings, and other special events. It will also directly connect Hotel Dene and Casino Dene, strengthening the nation’s hospitality and tourism offerings. Shawna Janvier, CEO of Hotel Dene & Conference Centre and Casino Dene, said the Community Gathering Space has been years in the making. \u201cIt’s been in the planning stages for about five years or so, most of that being in the last three years.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-15T17:27:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"New gathering space marks major milestone for Cold Lake FirstNations\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T17:27:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":363,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\\\/\",\"name\":\"New gathering space marks major milestone for Cold Lake FirstNations - The Turtle Island News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T17:27:43+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New gathering space marks major milestone for Cold Lake FirstNations\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Turtle Island News\",\"description\":\"Your Source for Local News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Turtle Island News\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"width\":140,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"Turtle Island News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/TurtleIslandNews\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/newsattheturtle\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\",\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lynda Powless\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/lynda\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New gathering space marks major milestone for Cold Lake FirstNations - The Turtle Island News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New gathering space marks major milestone for Cold Lake FirstNations - The Turtle Island News","og_description":"By Chantel Downes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Lakeland This Week The nation officially broke ground on the new Community Gathering Space on June 19. The facility will be located between Hotel Dene and Casino Dene along Highway 28 and is expected to accommodate up to 750 guests. Once complete, the space will be used for community celebrations, cultural gatherings, conferences, trade shows, markets, meetings, weddings, and other special events. It will also directly connect Hotel Dene and Casino Dene, strengthening the nation’s hospitality and tourism offerings. Shawna Janvier, CEO of Hotel Dene & Conference Centre and Casino Dene, said the Community Gathering Space has been years in the making. \u201cIt’s been in the planning stages for about five years or so, most of that being in the last three years.","og_url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\/","og_site_name":"The Turtle Island News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","article_published_time":"2026-07-15T17:27:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":725,"height":483,"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lynda Powless","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_site":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lynda Powless","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\/"},"author":{"name":"Lynda Powless","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458"},"headline":"New gathering space marks major milestone for Cold Lake FirstNations","datePublished":"2026-07-15T17:27:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\/"},"wordCount":363,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["National News","ticker"],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\/","name":"New gathering space marks major milestone for Cold Lake FirstNations - The Turtle Island News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-07-15T17:27:43+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/new-gathering-space-marks-major-milestone-for-cold-lake-firstnations\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New gathering space marks major milestone for Cold Lake FirstNations"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","name":"The Turtle Island News","description":"Your Source for Local News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization","name":"Turtle Island News","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","width":140,"height":150,"caption":"Turtle Island News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","https:\/\/x.com\/newsattheturtle","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458","name":"Lynda Powless","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lynda Powless"},"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/author\/lynda\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106849"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106850,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106849\/revisions\/106850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}