As the 2023 Christmas holiday season approached, the WSÁNEĆ Nation had one wish at the top of their list: their traditional unceded lands returned.
With the tagline “Give the gift of #landback this holiday season,” the W̱SÁNEĆ Land Trust Society (WLTS)’s December campaign invited settlers and allies to contribute financially toward the return of unceded territories to W̱SÁNEĆ communities.
The goal was to raise $10,000 by December 31, 2023, but this amount was doubled within seven days of launching the initiative.
“Land is really important to being able to grow as a community, to grow in our economies and to be doing it in a really sustainable way,” said Joni Olsen, W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council’s (WLC) Policy/Negotiation Manager.
The campaign is working to re-establish access to traditional foods, medicines, and materials by restoring the sacred relationship between the W̱SÁNEĆ and their lands and waters. Donations will be used to facilitate the return of ancestral lands on what is commonly known as the Saanich Peninsula and in the Gulf Islands, ensuring access for future generations.
The W̱SÁNEĆ People had, and continue to have, homes throughout the Southern Gulf Islands, the San Juan Islands, and on the Saanich Peninsula. The W̱SÁNEĆ Lands Trust Society was established to provide a mechanism for land to be returned to W̱SÁNEĆ Nations collectively.
Land is really important to being able to grow as a community, to grow in our economies and to be doing it in a really sustainable way.
– Joni Olsen, W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council’s (WLC) Policy/Negotiation Manager
Returning traditional lands is crucial to the cultural revitalization of the W̱SÁNEĆ Nation. Land returned to the community provides housing security, environmental stewardship, access to traditional harvesting, the ability to engage in cultural practices, and much more for current and future generations of W̱SÁNEĆ peoples.
Gord Elliott, W̱SÁNEĆ Lands Trust Society Officer and Senior Manager; Councillor for Tsartlip First Nation.
“I’d like settlers to know that it is really important to First Nations in general when land is returned,” said Gord Elliott, Officer and Senior Manager for the WLTS (and a Tsartlip councillor). “You can’t take away people’s culture, land, and resources and expect them to thrive. In fact, it’s the opposite. You’ll see a lot of poverty and social issues that go along with that alienation from their traditional lands.”
The W̱SÁNEĆ Lands Trust Society is a W̱SÁNEĆ-led charitable organization formed in 2021 under the direction of the WLC to facilitate the recovery of land for the benefit of the W̱SÁNEĆ people and the land itself. Now a standalone entity, the WLTS has already enabled the return of over 50 acres of land to the Nation, beginning with SISȻENEM (the 9.67-acre Halibut Island) in 2021.
Although the WLTS’s main goals are to help future generations of W̱SÁNEĆ access land for cultural purposes and to positively impact the environment through W̱SÁNEĆ stewardship, the WLTS will also seek land back for collaborative projects such as community housing and economic development initiatives.
In August 2023, the W̱SÁNEĆ Nation (through the WLTS) made history by becoming the first Indigenous Nation to receive land under Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Ecological Gifts Program, with the transfer of 45.7 acres of land in the heart of ȾIKEL (Maber Flats). Since the transfer, W̱SÁNEĆ has been working to restore this property and to return the peat bog at the site to its full capacity through an Indigenous, community-led restoration. This restoration will provide W̱SÁNEĆ with places to re-establish traditional harvesting practices, build connections to culture, exercise their rights and title, and promote conservation through education.
By supporting #landback, each donor takes a small step to right the wrongs of the past.
Financial reparations are a critical part of reconciliation. Since the onset of colonialism, Indigenous people have been robbed of their way of life, their languages, their economies, and their prosperity. By supporting #landback, each donor takes a small step to right the wrongs of the past.
As this issue went to print, the campaign had raised $35,977 from 202 donors.
“We are blown away by the amount of support W̱SÁNEĆ have received since the launch of the holiday fundraising campaign for the W̱SÁNEĆ Lands Trust Society (WLTS),” a December 21 newsletter read. “While the total amount raised will mean WLTS can move a lot faster on some exciting projects in the new year … it is the number of supporters that has really astonished us. The number of people willing to contribute is a signal to all W̱SÁNEĆ community members of just how much support there is out there for W̱SÁNEĆ rights and culture.”
1: Join the #landback movement! Learn more about the WLTS and donate to the cause at www.supportlandback.com. All donations are tax deductible and will be used to support land return and cultural restoration, including projects to remediate polluted land and waters, restoring decades of environmental damage.
2: Learn more: the Yellowhead Institute’s May 2021 Red Paper Cash Back is an excellent resource on the value of Indigenous lands and the detailed history of how the dispossession of Indigenous lands nearly destroyed Indigenous economic livelihoods.
