The Jake Thomas Learning Centre
for the conservation of traditional Iroquoian culture
Wilsonville, Ontario
Six Nations Reserve

Building Project

Cookhouse and Park

On the morning of Wednesday, August 28, 1996, Chief Jacob Thomas burnt tobacco at the Center of the excavation for a new building to carry instruction, ceremony, and administration for the preservation of traditional Iroquoian culture. In the spirit of the integrating ways of the Rotinonshón:ni, and honouring the shared teachings of the Elders, the Centre is being built with trust in the Creator, gifts from its members and patrons throughout North America and even Europe.

William Woodworth, an architect who came to the learning Centre for instruction in January 1996, volunteered his time and expertise later that year. He created schematic drawings, which will be used as the preliminary sketches for further development towards the project.

The structure will be positioned on its new site with the narrow dimension facing the rising sun at Summer Solstice due east, adjacent to a smaller structure built in 1996. 

The entire main floor of the structure will be an open space, which can be arranged with a backdrop for traditional teaching and recitation or opened for social gatherings. This "great room" opens to decks and porches on all four sides. It will be equipped for sound, lighting, and media production. The polished clay red concrete floor will be heated. Washrooms will also be located in this section; they will be wheelchair accessible.

An extension of 30 feet in length has been added to a revised version of the structure. This extension will house: a multi-media editing suite, an archive and library, Sandpiper Book Store and Gift Shop, kitchen facilities and staff lunchroom

The second floor will have independent learning stations, administration offices and a boardroom. This floor will be served with a sophisticated computer network. Floors on this level will be natural oak.

Skylights will be placed through the building to open up the structure to natural light. The walls will be weathered pine board and batten and the roof smooth cedar shakes. An entrance porch at the west end will open onto a circular drive with a garden centered around a fire pit for the Burning Tobacco. Two pairs of doors open to the east and the rising sun of the Summer Solstice. A deck there will face an eight sided pavilion separated by another Burning Tobacco place.

The existing building will be renovated into a crafts' workshop.

Elsewhere on the site a children's activity area will be developed with the theme of a traditional palisade village.

The total budget for the project, (including gifts received to date), will be over $575,882.00. An ambitious fundraising program is underway, and includes soliciting donations of materials and labour.

The vision for the project is to restore and to reinvigorate some of the lost building traditions of the ancestors while providing a focus for the recovery of indigenous teachings so urgently called upon in the confusion of the 21st century. Chief Thomas's recitation of the Great Law in September 1996 coincided with the pouring of the floor plate. A tour of the construction site was  conducted on Tuesday, September 10, 1996 at 6 pm.

These are the plans to date: the building committee is currently reviewing them. Final drawings and costs are underway.

This page was originally written by William Woodworth in 1996, and has been revised in 2004.