Words & Photos W̱SÁNEĆ Lands Trust Society
Redefining what reconciliation can look like in practice.
Established in 2021, the charitable organization W̱SÁNEĆ Lands Trust Society was created to provide a legal- and community-based pathway for land to be returned to W̱SÁNEĆ people, whose traditional territory spans the Saanich Peninsula and Southern Gulf Islands. The Society’s work supports the revitalization of Indigenous stewardship, cultural connection and ecological care through land return and long-term eco-cultural restoration initiatives.
For W̱SÁNEĆ people, land is inseparable from language, identity, ceremony, food systems, and sacred responsibilities to the natural world. Colonization displaced W̱SÁNEĆ communities from much of their territory and disrupted relationships with culturally significant lands, plants and animals. The W̱SÁNEĆ Lands Trust Society was formed to help reverse some of that loss by accepting donations of land and financial contributions that support a reconnection to land.
One of the Society’s most significant projects is the restoration of ȾIKEL, also known as Maber Flats, a culturally important area in Central Saanich. In 2023, nearly 19 hectares of former farmland was donated to the W̱SÁNEĆ Lands Trust Society by the Berglund family. ȾIKEL was once a vibrant wetland where W̱SÁNEĆ people gathered food, medicines and materials, including Pacific willow used to create reef nets for fishing. Although the wetland was drained for farming generations ago, the land is no longer viable for agriculture and its restoration will support cultural revitalization and food security through the return of traditional food and medicine plants and animals to a healthy wetland ecosystem. Stewardship of this land provides opportunities for W̱SÁNEĆ knowledge, oral history and language to be passed down from elders to youth.
The Society encourages individuals and families to see reconciliation not only as a conversation, but as an action. Donations of funds help support ecological restoration, educational initiatives, and future land return opportunities. Landowners also have the opportunity to contribute directly through land donations that place culturally and environmentally significant spaces back into Indigenous care.
By bringing together Indigenous leadership, environmental restoration and community collaboration, the W̱SÁNEĆ Lands Trust Society is building a powerful model for reconciliation rooted in care for the land and responsibility to future generations.
Learn more at www.supportlandback.com.
