Greenways Land Trust is a registered charity and conservation organization that works to enhance the community through the creation and management of greenways networks, based on principles of stream and land stewardship.
We thrive on getting students out learning in the field, leading interpretive walks in our local green spaces, or getting volunteers out maintaining trails, planting trees, and battling invasives. We want to help our community engage with their environment.
We bring together local stewardship groups and individuals by providing as many resources as possible and facilitating partnerships. Resources include technical expertise, project administration, and access to specialized natural resource information, tools and supplies.
We work to lead and collaborate on projects that restore, sustain and protect degraded natural areas and critical habitats. These projects bring together professional staff resources and expertise, creating a community sense of stewardship in our local sensitive areas.
Greenways Land Trust acknowledges the Liǧʷiɫdax̌ʷ First Nations on whose traditional territory our work is based: the Wei Wai Kum, We Wai Kai and Kwiakah First Nations. We also acknowledge our Coast Salish neighbours, the Xwemalhkwu and K’omoks Nations, who have close connections to these lands. As the Food Hub for the Strathcona District, we also have the privilege of working on Nuu-chah-nulth territories. We strive to continue to promote dialogue and increase collaboration with the Nations on whose lands we work.
Our mission is to restore, sustain and protect natural areas and critical habitats, particularly ecological and recreational greenways, for the benefit of our community. Environmental health and community health are intrinsically connected; therefore, it is important that we remain critical of the colonial culture and policies that we work within and how they perpetuate continued inequities and power imbalances.
Colonialism has displaced Indigenous peoples from their traditional territories to the detriment of both the people and the land, and its legacy in our society is ongoing.
First Nations on this coast have been stewards of the land since time immemorial. As we work to be good stewards, we remain mindful that we still have much to learn from their leadership and that we must continually create space at the table for Indigenous voices to be heard.
