The overall theme of the Community Portal is “Reconciling the Past to Build the Future.”

The purpose of this Community Portal is to help the Nelson House community reconcile to the damage of their historical landscapes by providing all community members, but especially the youth that were not able to experience the environment prior to 1977, a sense of what the environment was like before the flood by the Churchill River Diversion Project.

This portal recreates certain key areas in the Traditional Territory with the hope that being able to encounter the historical landscapes will help transmit the oral traditions and re-affirm the identify of the local community members.  The overall message is that there is hope for the future, the environment is starting to overcome the damaging flood, but to genuinely appreciate this recovery, community members need to recognize and reconcile with what was lost.

In subsequent development phases of this portal, we hope it will become a repository for essential learning about the community’s culture, history, traditions, and language.  It will deliver a clear sense that it is of immense importance to learn from the past, but not live in the past.   The purpose of these sections will be to pass on the essential knowledge from the elders and help prepare the next generation to take over and keep alive the traditions and community identity.