St. Eugene Golf Resort Celebrates 25 Years of Golf and Reconciliation
A Vision Rooted in Resilience
The view from the first tee box of the St. Eugene Golf Course takes your breath away. The undulating greens and white sand bunkers of the par 72, 18-hole championship course are surrounded by beautiful mountains – the Purcells to the west, the Rocky Mountains to the east and the serene St. Mary River running right through it all. But the view from the 18th tee box that faces the red roofed ivy-covered Spanish-colonial-style hotel is equally dramatic – for a different reason. The building that is at the heart of the modern luxury resort was once the Kootenay Indian Residential School. The fact that there is now a golf course, a casino, a luxury hotel and an RV campground at this site is a tribute to the resilience and determination of the four Ktunaxa (pronounced “k-too-nah-ha”) Indian Bands and the Shuswap Indian Band, who collectively own the property. May 2025 marks 25 years since the golf course opened as the first development of the resort complex and it is a true cause for celebration.
After 25 years, the five Indian Bands and the team that worked together to build the golf course and the rest of the facilities that followed have many reasons to celebrate the development that transformed a dark past into a bright future.
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Overcoming Challenges
Building a golf resort on an Indian reservation was challenging. Building on the site of a former residential school made it even more so. “The biggest challenge for this project was the location,” explained Sophie Pierre, former Chief of Aqam, one of the bands of the Ktunaxa Nation and former chair of the St. Eugene Resort. “The land where the golf course was built was part of an Indian reservation equally shared by five bands. That meant we had to get the approval of all five bands to proceed with this project.” After two years of internal marketing and speaking with many people from each of the bands, a vote was taken and the five bands unanimously agreed to move forward with the project as equal owners.
Coming to a consensus on what to do with the former residential school was also a challenge – especially for residential school survivors. “There were many people who had been so horribly impacted by their residential school experience, that they would have preferred to see the building destroyed,” said Pierre, who also attended the residential school. In the end, they decided to build something that would provide employment and other opportunities for future generations.
Securing funding for the project was another issue with the location. Since First Nations do not have title to the land upon which reservations are located, they cannot use the land to secure a loan and there is no process in place to provide funding for tourism projects. It makes the loan process more complicated and much more costly.
“St. Eugene Resort was almost an impossible dream when we started,” said Pierre. “Twenty-Five years later we’re looking forward and we’re celebrating the decision people made to reclaim the residential school and the land surrounding it for future generations. The decision the people made to build the resort was right.”
Design Excellence
From the very beginning, the vision was for St. Eugene Resort to be a top-notch golf course and resort experience. “We could have compromised and built a lesser quality resort, but we chose not to compromise quality even as we struggled to get financing,” explained Helder Ponte, project manager for the construction of St. Eugene Resort. “We wanted to create something special and reflect what the community wanted in the design.”
To ensure the quality of the golf course, Les Furber and the team at GDS Golf Design Services were hired to design the golf course and oversee its construction. Furber is a legendary Canadian golf course designer who has designed more than 70 golf courses and remodeled over 50 courses around the world. St. Eugene Golf Course was a memorable project for him. “It’s a beautiful property that spans three different environments and you don’t find that very often,” Furber said. “The property has mountain views, a river and the mission building in the background. It’s also unique because it’s a wilderness experience – not surrounded by residential development.”
The varied environment allowed Furber and his team to create a course that offers a links-style experience as well as parkland and riverside golf – all on one property. “I’m proud to have had the opportunity to work on this course with a great group of people and I still find it gratifying to see people out there enjoying the course,” said Furber who golfs at St. Eugene regularly. “I hope going forward there are years of fun to come.”
Indigenous Connections
One of the goals of this project was to employ as many people from the five bands as possible during construction and afterwards in operations. It was also important that the property design reflect the people. “It was important to bring the people with us on this journey and they contributed a lot to the project,” explained Graeme Douglas, who was the project manager for GDS Golf Design Services and is the current manager of golf and hotel facilities. “Augusta has names for each of its holes and we decided to have Ktunaxa names for each of the 18 golf holes at St. Eugene. A group of Elders came up with the names for each hole and Dorothy Alpine, one of the last fluent speakers of the language, was instrumental in this.”
Members of the five bands helped throughout the construction and today the resort continues to employ Indigenous People. “About 30 percent of the maintenance crew for the golf course is Indigenous,” said Douglas. “The golf course was a catalyst for the whole project. When we finished it and did it well, it showed financers that we could complete the whole project.” St. Eugene was ranked in the top three Best New Canadian Courses in Canada by Golf Digest in 2001 and has won other awards over the years. It is also a proud member of the National Audubon Society with over 100 species of birds sighted on the course.
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Reconciliation and Education
In 1984, Elder Mary Paul said: “Since it was within the St. Eugene Mission School that the culture of the Kootenay Indian was taken away, it should be within that building that it is returned.” The Ktunaxa Interpretive Centre is located on the ground floor of the original Mission Building, and it contains displays and artifacts that help to educate visitors about the Ktunaxa People. A documentary film called The Red Brick School shares the personal stories of residential school students including the mistreatment that occurred in the church-run residential school. Resort guests can visit the interpretive centre, watch the film and take a tour of the mission building with a residential school survivor. Corporate Indigenous cultural awareness training is also offered onsite and can include activities that range from tipi-raising team-building exercises to traditional games and craft classes, Programs are customized to fit the needs of the group.
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A Bright Future
As the Ktunaxa Nation and the Shuswap Indian Band celebrate 25 years since the opening of St. Eugene Golf Course, they are looking forward to the future. With proper care and stewardship, St. Eugene Resort and its remarkable golf course will continue to offer an unparalleled golf and resort experience for many years to come. “The journey continues, and we know we’re on the right path,” said Sophie Pierre. “A lot has changed in the past 25 years and we’re better for it. This milestone is a time for real celebration and it’s a time to look forward with hope.”
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