SUBMITTED BY SSI FOUNDATION
Just in time for the giving season, Salt Spring residents and donors from near and far have acted in reconciliation by raising the funds needed for SȾÁUTW̱ (Tsawout) First Nation to complete its Salt Spring Island Land Back campaign.
This campaign will reimburse them for their land purchase of Lot A Menhinick Drive on Salt Spring Island, which is adjacent to their 50-acre reserve in W̱ENÁ ̧NEĆ, or what is also known as Fulford Harbour.
After launching in June, the community rallied for seven solid months to raise the full $600,000 required to gift this property in their ancestral territory to SȾÁUTW̱ First Nation. The students at Fulford Elementary School got involved in the effort, hosting a popcorn fundraiser at the school and raising over $200 for the campaign.
This Land Back campaign was propelled by over 200 donations and buoyed by 13 donations, each over $10,000 from private and anonymous donors, as well as donor-advised funds, including the Artemis and Petunia Fund, the Salt Spring Island Foundation, and the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation.
Additionally, The Land Conservancy of British Columbia (TLC) donated generously to the SȾÁUTW̱ Land Back fund held at the Salt Spring Island Foundation with funds received from the late Nancy (Grant) Braithwaite. In her lifetime, Braithwaite acted in support of several social and environmental causes, including land acquisition for conservation, and Indigenous reconciliation.
The SȾÁUTW̱ Land Back campaign team would like to acknowledge all donors for their extraordinary generosity, including TLC in carrying on Braithwaite’s legacy. And the foundation would like to thank campaign leaders Briony Penn, Ashley Hilliard, Brian Craig and SȾÁUTW̱ lead negotiator Chrissy Chen, for their vision and stewardship of this effort.
“We are grateful that this opportunity for a tangible act of reconciliation came up on Salt Spring, was embraced by the SȾÁUTW̱ First Nation, and then supported by the island. Working together has been joyful and brought the language and laughter back to W̱ENÁ ̧NEĆ,” said Hilliard.
For those wishing to contribute, the fund will remain open until Dec. 31. Any funds over the campaign target will go towards SȾÁUTW̱ activities on Salt Spring Island.
For more details about the campaign, visit ssifoundation.ca/tsawout-land-back-campaign/.