The project is managed by Colliers Project Leaders, with construction oversight by Quorex. Furthermore, the centre is located at 506 3 Street East in the city. (submitted/City of Meadow Lake)

By Kenneth Cheung

50 years to go

A treasure hunt for the future: Meadow Lake to preserve 2025 in new Co-op Centre

Jun 18, 2025 | 1:26 PM

When Meadow Lake officially opens its new Co-op Centre later this month, the ribbon-cutting won’t be the only ceremonial moment of the day.

The city is also sealing away a time capsule, a 30-pound canister filled with messages, memories, and mementos from 2025 to be opened 50 years from now. While a plaque will go up inside the new city council chambers at the facility to mark the moment, those in the future will still have to work to find it.

“We are not going to be putting down where we are putting the time capsule,” said Asma Qadri, the city’s director of corporate services and the lead behind the project.

“I’m hoping that the administration of the city at that time sees it and maybe uses it as a treasure hunt and opens it up to the community to put in guesses as to where it was.”

The capsule will be sealed on June 24 and is meant to be opened on the same date in 2075 — a weekday, as Qadri made sure of.

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“I did make sure that June 24, 2075, is a weekday,” she said. “So it doesn’t fall on a weekend.”

The time capsule will hold a mix of sentimental and everyday items: Class of 2025 graduation photos from Carpenter High School, pictures of the Co-op Centre’s construction crew, student art, handwritten stories, flyers showing what things cost, and commemorative pins and coins.

“Some things will increase in value. Some things may just be memorable,” Qadri said.

“Some things will just be something that will bring flashbacks to people that are still here in the community after 50 years.”

It’s that moment in 2075 when someone finally unearths the capsule from its secret spot inside the centre that she’s already imagining.

“I think there’s definitely going to be some laughter,” she said.

“When I look back 50 years and think of the things we used to use… our video cameras — like those big, clunky video cameras — and now it’s all in a cell phone… the pictures we’re providing and the flyers we’re putting in are just to give them an idea of what things cost 50 years ago, instead of hearing it from grandparents and rolling our eyes like, ‘Oh wow, in my time it was only 25 cents.’ Here, there’s actual proof of that.”

But beyond the fun, the time capsule is also about remembering the heart and effort behind the Co-op Centre itself — a building shaped by community hands and hometown pride.

“What I would personally like to hope that we invoke with the items that we put in the time capsule is reminding people 50 years from now what went into building this complex and who all were involved,” Qadri said.

“It wasn’t just a group of people, like five or ten people who put it together. It was the whole community — all 5,000 of our… over 5,000 of our residents that came together and put this together.”

The idea for the capsule started as a casual suggestion during a planning meeting, and quickly turned into something more.

“I presented it and everybody was on board and then they assigned it to me,” she said, laughing. “So it was kind of — I walked myself into it.”

Now, as the finishing touches go up at the new facility, there’s still a little time for residents to contribute to the time capsule.

“They have time until the end of this week [June 20],” she said.

Then it will be sealed — out of sight, but not out of mind — waiting patiently for the next generation to find it, open it, and remember where it all began.

And who will know where it’s hidden? Qadri says those who attend the ribbon-cutting will be in the loop.

“Otherwise, I guess we’ll have to wait 50 years,” she said.

Event details

The grand opening ceremony for the new Co-op Centre is scheduled for June 24 from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. An open house will follow from 3:45 to 5:30, giving residents a chance to tour the new facility.

—

Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com