Fresh off purchasing the Mount Currie institution, the Lil'wat Nation has re-launched the Hitching Post Motel.
More than 60 community members joined Lil'wat Business Group (LBG) staff and elected officials to celebrate the grand re-opening of the motel with a land blessing and luncheon on April 7. The 12-unit motel, purchased earlier this year by LBG, marks the organization’s first foray into the tourism retail sector.
“I’m just happy seeing our people operating our motel on our land,” said Political Chief Skalúlmecw Dean Nelson in a speech.
Despite the business being situated within Lil'wat's downtown core in Mount Currie, the motel was always operated by owners from outside the Nation, until it was sold in spring 2025. Business group CEO Rosemary Stager previously told Pique she couldn't remember a time when the motel wasn’t there, going back at least 50 years.
The Nation has been buying up property and redeveloping land on Main Street, including the Spirit Circle Building and the old Blue Motel, in an effort to provide new housing and business opportunities. Case in point, in the Blue Motel’s place, a major mixed-use development is underway, following a successful re-zoning application with the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District in 2023.
Chiefs and council started considering the Hitching Post as they moved through Main Street in search of spots to redevelop, recalled Stager. The purchase was finalized in January, making LBG the largest land owner in Mount Currie.
Qaqawam Chris Wells, Sík Sík Joshua and Án̓wasúlmec Brett Wallace kicked off the afternoon's ceremony with singing and drumming, followed by speeches, a prayer from elder Priscilla Ritchie and a land-blessing ceremony that included smudging the motel, according to a release from the Nation. Cultural chief Gélpcal Ashley Joseph and Chief Nelson shared their joy about the new acquisition.
The motel will be managed through LBG’s Retail Operations. Retail Operations general manager Graham Turner, who led a hiring drive in early 2025 in advance of the motel's re-opening, spoke about the opportunity the motel offers before introducing new manager Melanie Montgomery. Montgomery had previously operated a nine-bedroom B&B in Niagara on the Lake in Ontario. During her introductory speech, she spoke highly of the people she had met during her first month on the job and of the team she had assembled.
“It’s been amazing," she told members of the Nation in attendance. "People have come up to me to introduce themselves and share their stories. I have felt so welcomed.”
Members of the Nation shared some of those stories on social media.
Wells spoke to the role the hotel played in the community and the “shenanigans” it had hosted over the years, to laughs from the audience. “We all have stories here,” he said. “Some we don’t want to tell.”
Stager previously told Pique the Nation was looking to upgrade the hotel.
“We want to eventually re-brand the name and just give it an overall facelift," said Stager. "[We'll] make the outside nicer, do some more landscaping, touch up the rooms, update them a bit.”
To that end, the new team behind the motel has introduced Indigenous branding elements to rooms, including Salish-designed bed throws and local art on the walls. "In the coming months, more branding elements will be added to the Hitching Post as it prepares for a busy summer season," according to the release.
Food provided for attendees of the motel's opening, including soup and bannock, was provided by Tsípun Supermarket Catering.
