Former Six Nations Elected Chief Ava Hill says since the passing of 80 year old Six Nations music legend Robbie Robertson in August, donations continue to be made in his memory to build a new cultural centre.
The Woodland Cultural Centre (WCC) has seen an increasing number of donations supporting a campaign to build a new WCC, a campaign that Robertson was part of as an honorary chair member.
Robertson rose to fame with his band “The Band” and they were eventually inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 after successful hits “The Weight”, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”, and “Up on Cripple Creek”. Robertson won an additional 5 Juno awards in a solo recording career that began in the mid-1980’s.
At the time of Robertson’s passing (Aug. 9), his family asked in lieu of donating flowers, that people instead continue his support of the centre’s Capital Campaign. Fellow WCC campaign chair member Hill says so far, about $45,000 has come from donations to the campaign in memory of Robertson. She spoke on how important it was to have a person of Robertson’s stature advocating for this campaign.
“It was very important to have him, and you can tell from the tributes that are still on social media everyday that the impact he had with some very high profile people was immense and a lot of them are making donations,” she said.
“Not only is it helping with the financial part of it, but it’s helping to promote our campaign and what we’re doing. Even though Robbie’s not here, he’s still going to be a big part of it,” she added. “We want a state of the art building so people can come and learn about our history and our culture and I think in his later years that’s what Robbie wanted the most, he was very proud of who he was and his music reflected that. He wanted people to know our history and our culture and I think this new Cultural Centre will be a place to do that.”
Hill says that the estimated cost for the new building will be around $65 million. She says that the campaign’s business plan is close to being completed and a design for the new building has been completed by Two Row Architect. Once the campaign’s business plan is complete, Hill says the committee will then be asking for funding from both the provincial and federal governments. She says the project will be completed in phases with the current building eventually being torn down.
WCC said in a media release that Robertson’s career was influenced by early trips with his mother Rosemarie to visit family in Six Nations of the Grand River – a community known for supporting musical and artistic talent.
Robertson obtained his status as a Six Nations Band Member in 2017. Despite his fame, Hill says he was always proud to be a member of the community and a role model for indigenous youth.
“He was from the bush, if he was here he’d say ‘I’m from the bush,'” she said. “He went on to become an international rock star with some pretty high profile people in the world. When he was here he didn’t say I’m a big rockstar he was just one of us.”
She says Robertson was a role model for all Indigenous people and was able to inspire future generations, something that Hill says is needed to help the Indigenous community heal from social issues and intergenerational trauma that it faces.
“He’s a role model for all Indigenous people, and a strong ambassador for Indigenous people but particularly an inspiration. He gives that hope and inspiration, which we need to give to our young people. Everybody knows what we’ve gone through with colonization, the residential school era and the theft of our land, the social issues that we continue to deal with as a result of all that stuff,” she said.
“I think that we’re in a position now where we need to break that cycle and give all the young people hope and inspiration to say that if you dream big and you work hard, you can do it. I think that’s one of the reasons why I got involved in this, I’m also involved in a lot of sporting areas, is to give that hope and inspiration to young people and I think that’s what Robbie did.”
More information can be found on the WCC’s website.
