ZȺWIZUT Carl Olsen of W̱SÁNEĆ Nation speaks on a panel alongside Robert Clifford and Deborah Curran about the Goldstream watershed, mutual care, and our collective responsibility to Water. Photo: Jodie Walsh
On June 18th and 19th, close to 200 people gathered at the First Peoples House at the University of Victoria to collectively inquire about, (re)imagine, and (re)story our relations to water.
Event co-organizers address symposium attendees. Left to right: Jean-Paul Restoule (Professor and Chair, Indigenous Education), Serap Asar Brown (CFGS Graduate Student Fellow, Faculty of Education), Kelly Bannister (Co-Director, POLIS Project on Ecological Governance). Photo: Mac Nguyen
The event, Reconciling with Water, was imagined and co-organized by Serap Asar Brown (Centre for Global Studies Graduate Student Fellow, Faculty of Education) with Kelly Bannister (Co-Director, POLIS Project on Ecological Governance) and Jean-Paul Restoule (Professor and Chair, Indigenous Education, University of Victoria). It was an outcome of Serap’s collaborative graduate research that was guided by W̱SÁNEĆ Elders, J’SINTEN, COSINIYE, and SELILIYE.
As observed by keynote speaker Dr. Lorna Wanosts’a7 Williams, the symposium was an example of what we can do when we work together, noting how the symposium was designed, supported, and funded. The event purposefully connected fields of knowledge and opened space for further collaboration and action.
Participants included local Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Holders, youth, faculty members, educators, managers, teacher education and policy studies students, members of government and non-governmental organizations, artists, activists, and policymakers. They all gathered in a spirit of sharing, learning, listening, and relational accountability.
Dr. Lorna Wanosts’a7 Williams (Lil’wat Nation) delivers her keynote on the first day of the symposium. Photo: Mac Nguyen
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, climate change solutions, and relational water ethics all framed the symposium. And the venue provided a relational atmosphere where participants could engage and listen across diverse perspectives, interact, and reflect.
The gathering opened with Water Songs by W̱SÁNEĆ Elder J’SIṈTEN Dr. John Elliott and Knowledge Keepers PENÁW̱EṈ Elliott and SX̱EDŦELISIYE Renee Sampson, as well as Water Dances by W̱SÁNEĆ youth. On each day, keynote speakers Dr. Lorna Wanosts’a7 Williams (Lil’wat Nation) and Jeff Ganohalidoh Corntassel (Cherokee Nation) delivered crucial messages on relations with water.
Over the course of the two days, the symposium featured six panels with presentations and discussions on the role of water relations in curriculum, local water activism, and water law and policy. Participants also explored the role of stories in education, activism, and policymaking.
Featured panellists included Lorna Wanosts’a7 Williams, J’SINTEN John Elliott, Hōkūlani Aikau, Nick Stanger, Belinda Daniels, Jean-Paul Restoule, Carl Olsen, Robert Clifford, Deborah Curran, Zita Botelho, Tom Gleeson, Oliver M. Brandes, India Young, Nicole Stanbridge, and Deb Gloeckler.
In the panel on The Goldstream Watershed, Mutual Care, and Responsibility to Water, W̱SÁNEĆ Elder Carl Olsen reminded participants of our responsibilities related to the proposed highway expansion at Goldstream and treaty rights for the lifecycle of salmon.
Oliver M. Brandes (POLIS) speaks alongside longtime POLIS partners Zita Botelho (Watersheds BC) and Tom Gleeson (Groundwater Science and Sustainability Research Group) on the “Stories of Watershed Governance” panel. Photo: Jodie Walsh
The panel on Stories of Watershed Governance featured Oliver M. Brandes (Project Lead, POLIS Water Sustainability Project) and longtime POLIS partners Zita Botelho (Executive Director, Watersheds BC) and Tom Gleeson (Research Lead, Groundwater Science and Sustainability Research Group). They discussed the need for watershed-scale approaches and the relational work that underpins governance reform. The ensuing dialogue focused on themes of reconciliation as participants discussed Indigenous laws, relationship to place, and the challenges and opportunities to shift dominate systems and values.
Longtime POLIS partner Deborah Curran (Executive Director, Environmental Law Centre) and Robert Clifford (Co-Academic Director, Indigenous Legal Studies, Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia) co-led the panel on Strengths and Gaps in Law and Policy, where they provided recommendations regarding relational policy and implementation of Indigenous laws.
The symposium also featured an art exhibition of teacher education students (Faculty of Education, University of Victoria), facilitated by Kwakwakaʼwakw and Nuu-chah-nulth artist Alex Taylor-McCallum. The presentations highlighted themes of responsibility, loss, healing, and the interconnection of water and community.
Kwakwakaʼwakw and Nuu-chah-nulth artist Alex Taylor-McCallum introduces the water-inspired canvases from the art exhibition created by teacher education students (Faculty of Education). Photo: Jodie Walsh
Concluding roundtable discussions invited participants to reflect on what they had learned and how to move forward in action. As participants left the First Peoples House, many carried with them a renewed sense of connection, responsibility, and hope.
The symposium affirmed that water is not merely a resource but a living relative — central to community, culture, memory, governance, and survival. Through collective care and commitment, more just and reciprocal relationships with water, and with one another, are not only possible but already beginning to flow.
In the coming months, next steps will include sharing symposium proceedings and continuing collaboration for action at local to international levels.
The symposium was hosted by the UVic Department of Indigenous Education, the POLIS Project on Ecological Governance, and the Centre for Global Studies with generous support from the Balance Co-Lab: Collaboration for Sustainable Communities, the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS), and UVic Faculty of Education.
The grants from PICS and Balance Co-Lab were received by Serap Asar Brown in her capacity as CFGS fellowship holder for her fellowship project “Reconciling with Water Symposium: A Collective (Re)imagining and (Re)storying Relations to Water.”
