Funds raised in 2023 campaign surpass W̱SÁNEĆ Lands Trust Society goal, reaching over $35,000 in just three weeks
(December 5, 2024 – Saanichton, BC) – After a successful inaugural campaign, the W̱SÁNEĆ Lands Trust Society (WLTS) Holiday Gift Giving Campaign is returning this December. This holiday season, allies and community members across the country are invited to support the WLTS #landback campaign through monetary donations or by returning traditional unceded land to W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples. With a goal of raising $10,000 by December 31, 2024, funds will facilitate the return of ancestral lands on the Saanich Peninsula and Gulf Islands to the W̱SÁNEĆ for the first time since colonization. This is an opportunity to help restore the sacred relationship between the W̱SÁNEĆ, their lands, and waters.
Image: The W̱SÁNEĆ Lands Trust Society team and Reef Net Crew working together to remove invasive Purple Loosestrife from ȾIKEL.
“Everyone living in W̱SÁNEĆ territory is subject to the Douglas Treaties. W̱SÁNEĆ people have Douglas rights and Aboriginal rights and title, and settlers have obligations to protect and honour those rights,” said Chief Don Tom, Tsartlip First Nation and W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council Chairman. “This means that reconciliation is everyone’s responsibility…The phrase ‘land back’ is no longer a euphemism. It’s finally a reality.”
Image: Harvest of the Vancouver Island Beggarticks (Bidens Amplissima).
Thanks to the generosity of donors during the 2023 Holiday Gift Giving Campaign, WLTS made significant progress restoring ȾIKEL—a traditional territory spanning 300 acres. In late 2023, 47 acres were returned to W̱SÁNEĆ, enabling the community to focus on closing the culvert to re-flood the plains, seed harvesting, and invasive plant removal in 2024. Funds raised last December also supported the WLTS in hiring its first full-time staff member, building organizational and financial capacity to hire W̱SÁNEĆ community members, and preparing for a successful future.
Image: The Habitat Acquisition Trust team at the ȾIKEL wetland site.
All donations made through supportlandback.com are tax-deductible and will be used for land purchase and return, cultural restoration and to remediate polluted land and waters, restoring decades of environmental damage.
Underway until December 31, 2024, WLTS’s #landback campaign provides a tangible way for everyone to bring the original people back to W̱SÁNEĆ traditional territory. All donors will receive a card designed by a W̱SÁNEĆ artist that they can give as a thoughtful gift this holiday season. Those who donate $500 or more will also be gifted branded seeds harvested from W̱SÁNEĆ traditional territory. By supporting #landback, each donor takes a small step to right the wrongs of the past.
About the W̱SÁNEĆ Lands Trust Society
The W̱SÁNEĆ Lands Trust Society (WLTS) is a registered charity and approved Ecological Gifts Recipient, dedicated to providing a place for land to be returned for the benefit of W̱SÁNEĆ who were stripped of their lands. The main goals are to help future generations of W̱SÁNEĆ access land for cultural purposes and to positively impact the environment through W̱SÁNEĆ stewardship, while also seeking land back for collaborative projects such as community housing and economic development initiatives.
WLTS is a separate legal entity from the W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council, which helped to establish the WLTS in 2021 and continues to be a proud supporter of the work it does on behalf of the W̱SÁNEĆ Nation.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Chief Don Tom
Chair, W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council Chief, Tsartlip First Nation
E: chief@tsartlip.com
P: (250) 813-3315
