Outside the Building on the West side
"The building structurally relies on the Seven Sacred Teachings represented by seven columns," says Eladia Smoke, Lead Architect of Smoke Architecture. "These are the Mishoomis (Grandfather) teachings facing outward, representing integrity of action toward others, and facing inward, the Nookomis (Grandmother) teachings representing integrity within ourselves. Each teaching is associated with a colour and shows the footprints of the animal teacher who best represents each principle." These teachings were gifted to Centennial by the late Joseph-ban McQuabbiem who insisted that both the Mishoomis and Nookomis teachings were included and explained what they were from.
"The columns grow out of a rock formation made of volcanic basalt columnar stones, representing the element of fire," Eladia explains. "They are inscribed with the Tehonta-tenent-sonteron-tahkhwa (Covenant Chain) wampum pattern, ‘the thing by which they link arms,’ representing a heart-to-heart connection between peoples of differing heritage. The stones are set at a 305 degree angle, to represent the azimuth at summer solstice sunset, Indigenous People’s Day in Canada. From this direction, you can see the line connecting the figures clearly. However, at other points on your path, that connection may be unclear."