TRAILS SOCIETY TIDIES FERRY LANDING / PAGE 12 PCSS BOYS SECOND IN BASKETBALL / PAGE 17 ®
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Volume 67, No. 13 | Thursday, March 26, 2015
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(From left) Lower Kootenay Band Chief Jason Louie with Joyce and Norm Mackie, who have owned Ainsworth Hot Springs Resort since 1979.
LKB buys Ainsworth Hot Springs Resort
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Ainsworth Hot Springs Resort, a popular Kootenay Lake tourist destination, is being purchased by the Lower Kootenay Indian Band (LKB), Chief Jason Louie announced March 19. The acquisition, which will see ownership change hands in April, is an important economic development investment for his people, and it has historical significance too, he said. (More history on page 5.) “The Lower Kootenay Band has a history with the site that dates back hundreds of years,” he said in a press release. “The Ainsworth hot springs are known by the Ktunaxa people as nupika wu’u, which has a literal translation meaning ‘spirit water’.”
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Louie said on Monday that the purchase was announced to about 65 Lower Kootenay Band members at a community meeting last week. “We couldn’t advertise what it was about, so we just said it was to discuss economic development,” he said. “It was one of the biggest meetings we have ever had. There were a lot of questions asked but no challenges to our purchase, but the atmosphere in the room was upbeat and optimistic.” Louie said the LKB faces numerous challenges, including establishing working relationships with residents of Kootenay Lake’s west shore, and connecting with the many tourism-related organizations in the Kootenays. Equally important, though, is to ensure changes and new develop-
“The Ainsworth hot springs are known by the Ktunaxa people as ‘nupika wu’u’, which has a literal translation meaning ‘spirit water’.” Chief Jason Louie Lower Kootenay Band
ment are in keeping with First Nations values, and that they provide an educational proponent that brings the band’s history and culture into the picture. “We will be relying on the few
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elders that we have left to guide as we move forward,” he said. International tourists are among the many opportunities the resort offers, Louie said. “I was at the resort with my family last week and in the pool and caves we could hear many languages being spoken — I would guess German, French, Russian. There are a lot of international visitors and we want to give them a unique cultural experience.” He said one idea being discussed is the installation of teepees that could be used as accommodation in the spring, summer and fall months, inviting visitors to get a deeper understanding of the hot springs’ importance to earlier generations of Lower Kootenay people.
See aINSWorTH, page 4
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