Grand River Employment and Training Inc. (GRETI) hosted a grand opening event for its newly built longhouse at Kayanase in Ohsweken, on Monday, September 29, 2025.
The Ogwehoweh Skills and Trades Training Centre (OSTTC) Longhouse, traditionally named Ganǫhsa’ǫ:weh (meaning “real or original house” in the Cayuga language), was first built in 2016 and completed in 2017.
For several years, it served as a cultural learning space for OSTTC students, clients of GRETI, and visitors from around the world, however, on Friday, July 22, 2022, the 80-foot 17th-century replica was destroyed by a fire.
Both GRETI and OSTTC wasted no time planning to rebuild the longhouse, quickly launching a community fundraising campaign and securing funding from the Federal Economic Development Agency’s Southern Ontario Prosperity Program, and Ontario’s Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence, and Security’s Indigenous Education branch.
“As soon as the fire happened, we immediately started thinking about how we were going to rebuild and how we could make that happen,” said Erin Monture, CEO of GRETI. “We didn’t know how we were going to do it, but I told everyone, ‘if it’s in our minds and if this is what we’re thinking about, it’s going to happen.”
Now, three years later, with the help of Two Row Architect, 7G Explorations and GWB Construction, the newly built Ganǫhsa’ǫ:weh was able to officially reopen its doors on Monday.
“As Ogwehoweh people, our resilience shines through our enduring strength, our deep connection to heritage, and our collective commitment to building pathways towards self-determination. The longhouse is a tribute to that spirit,” said Trudy Porter, chair of the board at Grand River Employment and Training. “The vision of Ganǫhsa’ǫ:weh began in 2015 as a centere that would accurately and respectfully represent and preserve the history and culture of the Haudenosaunee; a place that would offer cultural, social, educational and economic benefits to the Six Nations community, and today, that dream stands before us, rebuilt and renewed. Thank you to all our partners who helped bring this beautiful longhouse back to life. We look forward to strengthening the relationships with our partners, our neighbours and the community guided by mutual respect and a shared purpose.”
During the event, Councillor Greg Frazer of the Six Nations elected Council, said he was impressed with the overall size and location of the new longhouse, and he congratulated the GRETI team, as well as the builders, for what they’ve accomplished.
“I commend the First Nation builders who did this, and I think they should be very proud that they were able to put it up in such a speedy fashion. …This is going to serve as a great source of knowledge and culture for our young people, for our students, [and I think it will even serve] as a quiet, calming place for our elders to sit,” he said. “…I commend Erin on her perseverance, because to get funding for a structure like this is very difficult. When we look at the different parts of the government and their restrictions and their cut offs, it’s just one after another, but she persevered and was able to get the job done.”
Speaking to the build itself, Josh Sherry, director of operations at 7G Explorations, said he was honoured to be part of the project.
“I’ve been on a lot of job sites throughout Turtle Island, and this was by far one of the most calming experiences that I’ve ever had. I couldn’t help but wonder, while I was building this, what it was like for our ancestors,” he said. “We were fortunate enough to have telehandlers and equipment to be able to get to the heights that we needed to and to move the pieces of equipment that we needed to move, and it really made me think of how many hands it would have taken for our ancestors to build this type of structure.”
“…It was invigorating to feel that connection and to realize that we weren’t just building a structure, we were building cultural resurgence within our community,” continued Sherry. “We were building pathways for our people to get back in touch with how our ancestors lived, the amount of work, communication and collaboration that it took to be able to structure our societies and live within them. …I’ll carry this with me for the rest of my days, and I hope that what we’ve done here will reverberate through the generations.”
Monture later said that she’s looking forward to welcoming the community back to the space and sharing the longhouse and its teachings with them.
“Kayanase is our ecological restoration and native seed site and so we have the medicine garden out front, we have learning yurts, the greenhouse, our seed orchard, and walking paths back to the river,” she said. “And now that we have the longhouse back, we will be doing programming here again. Our past executive director identified through working with clients and working with students, that there was something missing within them. Life gets hard, the hustle and bustle of working can be tough and so to come in here and sit… it’s a reminder of what and why we do what we do.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
