SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Plans for a pavilion to be shared by the three territories in Vancouver are almost complete as the 2010 Olympics draw nearer.

Canada's Northern House is set to operate from mid-January to the end of March in the old Canada Export Centre at 602 West Hastings in Vancouver. As the North's Olympic pavilion, it will showcase the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and the Yukon. - photo courtesy of Adam K. Johnson

According to David Hastings, director of tourism and parks for the Department of Industry, Tourism, and Investment, final decisions have yet to be made on programming, an opening date, and how the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut will share costs for the approximately $1.5 million dollar rental of ground floor office space in downtown Vancouver, which will be called Northern House.

The NWT's share of the bill will be paid out of the GNWT's Olympic budget, which Hastings said includes $1.39 million from the Department of Industry, Tourism, and Investment, and $1.05 million from the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Much of the rest of the budget will go toward sending youth and performers to the event, but government officials won't confirm how many MLAs and government bureaucrats will be travelling, or when. Hastings said the location for the Northern House is excellent.

"We're on the main floor, it's at 602 West Hastings," said Hastings, adding the space is more than 12,000 square feet in size.

Northern House is about seven blocks from B.C. Place, where a large number of pavilions for the Feb. 12-28 Winter Olympics are being housed.

"It's a great space. It was also once the Toronto Dominion Bank, so it's got super high ceilings, lots of marble columns, really open."

Hastings said the site is near a SkyTrain stop which is located by the waterfront in a high-pedestrian traffic area.

"When you come out of the train station, through the front doors, you can see Canada's Northern House from there," he said.

He added it appears the opening will take place in mid-January and will remain open until the end of the Paralympics, which are scheduled to finish on March 21. The lease expires at the end of April.

Richard Zieba, the former NWT director of tourism and parks, said last April that the government may look to keep Northern House open for several years after the Olympics, but Hastings said that likely is no longer the plan. All three territories are currently discussing the possibility of keeping it open longer, but it would not be something the NWT could afford to do alone, according to Darren Campbell, manager of public affairs with the Department of Industry, Tourism, and Investment.

As for programming at Northern House, Hastings did not want to give away many of "our secrets in terms of what's in there," but said his department wants to showcase Northern business, tourism, arts and crafts, culture and traditions.

"We have some unique businesses, some unique challenges, and some unique opportunities in the North. Things like our ice road, for example. We want visitors to get an experience of what they can see if they visit the North, and what it's like to live in the North," said Hastings. "It acts as a visitors' centre, an arts gallery, an interpretive centre – we've tried to have a lot of interactive things in there, and we have a retail space in there. It focuses more on arts and fine crafts. It's avenue to promote our artists."

Hastings said the site will include a store which will sell Northern art, and a basement floor in the building.

The basement floor is "a multi-functional place – it can be an art gallery, it can be a movie theatre, it could be a boardroom, you could have black tie dinners down there, cocktail receptions," said Hastings, adding that those are all items the government is trying to incorporate into the programming.

Hastings said there will be "ground teams" at different sites during the Olympics that will be promoting Northern House and driving people there.