Rub shoulders with aboriginal artists at this unique Vancouver hotel – The Globe and Mail
Apr. 13 2015
You can go to Vancouver and stay in a sparkling glass-tower hotel and enjoy the spa treatments, the first-class dining and the spectacular ocean vistas. But for a hotel experience that offers a very different view of the city – perhaps more authentic and eye-opening – consider Skwachays Lodge, a remarkable new project in one of the city’s most vibrant, interesting neighbourhoods. Just don’t expect egg-white omelettes at your door or a Chanel boutique around the corner.
Skwachays, owned and operated by the Vancouver Native Housing Society, is a boutique hotel with themed rooms created by aboriginal artists. It’s also part of a social enterprise in the heart of the Downtown Eastside, existing side by side (or, more to the point, top to bottom) with social housing. The building encompasses three operations: The hotel and Urban Aboriginal Fair Trade Gallery are meant to subsidize long-term transitional housing for aboriginal artists-in-residence, who can stay up to three years.
