SȾÁUTW̱ (Tsawout) Land Back Campaign Completed with TLC's Dedication of Gift from Legacy Donor
Historical photo of the SȾÁUTW̱ Fullford reserve on Salt Spring Island, to which Lot A provides direct, land-based access. Photo credit Maud Weaver-Bridgman c. 1910.
Salt Spring Island, BC – 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 their Salt Spring Island Land Back campaign.
This campaign, will reimburse the Nation for their land purchase of 2.1-acre 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) generously donated $75,000 to the SȾÁUTW̱ Land Back Campaign 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.
Nancy Braithwaite in the 1990s. Photo credit Tamar Griggs.
Nancy had been a TLC donor since the organization's inception in 1997. She contributed to several TLC projects on Salt Spring Island and established the Ruffed Grouse Endowment Fund, which supports TLC education programs, like Passport to Nature and the Deertrails Naturalist Program, that connect people with nature. In 2001, Nancy also placed a conservation covenant with TLC and the Islands Trust Conservancy to protect vulnerable species within the red-listed Douglas-fir – Arbutus ecological community (CDFmm/02) on her property.
"We are honoured to contribute to this land back campaign to both fulfill Nancy's wish to support projects that benefit ecology and the people of Salt Spring Island, and to continue our reconciliation efforts by supporting the SȾÁUTW̱ First Nation's land purchase," said Dianna Stenberg, TLC's Executive Director.
The opportunity to contribute to the SȾÁUTW̱ Land Back Campaign was brought forth by Nancy's niece and executor, Briony Penn, who fondly remembers her as "a person who was dedicated to social and ecological justice". Read more about Nancy Braithwaite on page 18 of the Salt Spring Island Foundation's Community Report.
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 more details about the campaign, visit ssifoundation.ca/tsawout-land-back-campaign/.
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