Victoria plans to provide in-kind support, waiving fees and helping fund a pair of cultural events in the city.
Council is prepared to provide up to $100,000 to support an event to mark Truth and Reconciliation Day 2025, including in-kind support and the waiving of fees for use of the Royal Athletic Park on Sept. 30. Likewise, they agreed to provide up to $25,000 to support the Xwsepsum (Esquimalt) and Songhees Nations’ organizing of the 2025 Tribal Journeys protocols and events.
Both are through requests from the Nations.
Sept. 30, 2021 marked the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation recognized by federal legislation, and the next year, Songhees Nation hosted a cultural celebration and powwow to mark the day. More than 8,000 people attended the one-day event at Royal Athletic Park. The event has only grown in popularity since.
In 2022, 2023, and 2024, council approved up to $50,000 each year, with council and city staff helping organize and participating in the celebration, staff noted in its report to council.
The Sept. 30 event returns to Royal Athletic Park, a venue large enough to hold such a large celebration safely and respectfully.
“It is expected that this event will once again draw substantial interest from Vancouver Island First Nations and visiting Indigenous Peoples, the general public and all orders of government,” staff noted.
Ahead of that, Xwsepsum Nation is collaborating with the Songhees Nation to host a stop for Tribal Journeys on July 29. Tribal Journeys is an annual event where canoe families from nations all over the Pacific Coast travel to a central location for multiple cultural protocol days.
“This is a long-standing healing event, rich in tradition, that has grown significantly in the last few years. This incredibly meaningful cultural event will welcome approximately 500 paddlers, canoe crews, Elders, and guests from Indigenous Nations all along the West Coast, to Fort Rodd Hill, located within the shared traditional territories of the Xwsepseum and Songhees Nations,” the staff report reads.
This site will serve as an overnight stop and gathering place as they continue their canoe journey to the final destination of Elwha, Wash.
On the morning of July 30, crews will paddle onward to Beecher Bay, then arrive in Elwha on July 31 to begin five days of protocol and cultural celebration.
Council approved both requests, funded through remaining 2025 contingency funds or protocol budget, as needed. Victoria council readily agreed during its committee meeting June 19.
Committee decisions require ratification during official council; however, the item sailed through smoothly on the “consent agenda”, which requires unanimity.
