Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team (GOERT)

Territorial Acknowledgement & First Nations

We acknowledge with deep respect that we live and work on the traditional and unceded territories of the many Coast Salish and Indigenous Peoples including, but not limited to, all of the Hul’qumi’num speaking Nations, lək̓ʷəŋən Peoples, and W̱SÁNEĆ Nations. The work that we do as a community is centred on supporting lands that were maintained and cultivated by these communities for thousands of years and whose connections to these lands continue to this day.

The Garry Oak Ecosystem Recovery Team is working to build safe and meaningful relationships with Indigenous Peoples, as their continued stewardship is an integral aspect for the meaningful recovery of Garry Oak ecosystems. We recognize that ensuring the health and long-term viability of Garry Oak and associated ecosystems, through helping people to respect, preserve, and restore them, can only be achieved by upholding the relationships between the people and the land.

The following are links to some of the many First Nations communities that historically stewarded these ecosystems, and continue to care for and rely on oak meadows on or near what is now called Vancouver Island:

• Coast Salish Gathering
• Tsawwassen
• S’Klallam
• K’ómoks
• ditidaqiic̓aq disib̓aʔk (Ditidaht)
• Tulalip
• Lhaq’temish (Lummi)
• Á,LEṈENEȻ ȽTE (W̱SÁNEĆ)
  • Tsartlip
  • Tseycum
  • Tsawout
• Songhees
• Esquimalt Nation
• Te’mexw Treaty Association
• Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group
• Quw’utsun
• Pacheedaht
• Ts’uubaa-asatx
• Stz’uminus
• Snuneymuxw