JULIE LAWLOR
WESTSHORE – September is about a lot of things – at the WestShore Chamber it is often our second “New Year” as people get settled back into their work & routines, and kids are back in school after summer holidays. In September we also look to ways we can honour and acknowledge the National Day for Truth & Reconciliation on September 30. This day “honours the children who never returned home and Survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities.”
While September 30 is a statutory holiday, as for all stats not every business will be closed. The Victoria Native Friendship Centre invites those across Victoria that will be open to take part in the Small Business Pledge, directly supporting programs for the urban Indigenous community through proceeds and donations on the day. “With 80% of Indigenous people in Canada living in urban areas, the need for Friendship Centres is more critical now than ever.” You can find out more at vnfc.ca
Interested in supporting First Nations in the territory where you work or live? Check out The Reciprocity Trusts Society at reciprocitytrusts.ca to learn more about how you can “start saying thank you for over one hundred and fifty years of rent-free living by paying a little back each year. These annual payments will go directly to participating Indigenous Nations, who have control over where they accept payments from and what priorities they go towards.”
Learning is an essential component of Reconciliation. On September 26, the BC Chamber of Commerce (bcchamber.org) is hosting a virtual event, “Honouring the Past, Building a Reconciled Future.” Registration is free, with all voluntary contributions going to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society. And to access year-round opportunities, go to ipsociety.ca to learn more about what’s on offer from Indigenous Perspectives Society: Centre of Excellence in Community Education.
The WestShore Chamber of Commerce provides support and services for those doing business in Colwood, the Highlands, Langford, Metchosin and View Royal. These municipalities reside on the ancestral and traditional territories of the Esquimalt, Songhees, W̱SÁNEĆ, and Beecher Bay First Nations, whose continuous relationship to the land and the water encompasses past, present, and future.
Julie Lawlor is Executive Director at the West Shore Chamber of Commerce
