A Place to Gather
How the PARC Campus Honours Coast Salish Tradition
May 2026
As the PARC Campus project nears completion, the landscape features that surround the building are beginning to take shape. One of the centre pieces is the gathering circle –carefully designed in collaboration with Lekwungen knowledge keepers, to reflect a deep respect for the land, its history, and the people who have called this place home since time immemorial.
For thousands of years, gathering circles have been central to Coast Salish life — communal spaces for ceremony, storytelling, decision-making, and connection. They are not simply a place to sit. They represent a way of being together.
In a circle, we are all equal. No one in front of you, no one behind you. No one above you and no one below you. (Source: Sharing Circles – Pass The Feather)
In Coast Salish culture, the circle dissolves hierarchy and invites everyone into relationship with one another.
At the centre of a traditional gathering circle sits the fire pit, historically located at the heart of the longhouse. Fire has always been, and continues to be, the focal point of community life: a source of warmth, light, and ceremony. The gathering circle at PARC Campus honours this tradition directly, with a fire pit designed at a scale that leaves ample room for dancing and ceremony.
Direction, Territory, and Protocol
Not all gathering circles are the same. Traditions and protocols vary depending on the Territory and the Nation. In the west, circles flow counterclockwise, following the path of the moon. In the east, they flow clockwise, following the path of the sun. These distinctions matter as they are expressions of a living culture with deep regional knowledge and specificity. The design of the PARC gathering circle reflects the local Coast Salish traditions of this Territory with an invitation to all visiting cultures to gather, learn, celebrate and bring their own traditions and protocols to the circle.
The gathering circle at the PARC Campus will be a place where all voices are equal, where community and culture are valued and where the wisdom of the land is heard.
As the PARC Campus nears completion, the gathering circle will be waiting — ready to bring people together.
The Royal BC Museum acknowledges the lək̓ʷəŋən (Place to Smoke Herring People) also known as the Songhees and Xwsepsum Nations as the traditional keepers of these lands and waters. It is with gratitude we learn to live, work and walk respectfully on their lands today.