How the WE Wai Kai/ ICAN Partnership came into being

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The We Wai Kai Nation wanted to find out more about their water resources on Quadra Island when the ICAN water security team approached them about a possible partnership. 


“I wanted to find out  how much water we have? Where is it coming from? We want to know if the water's good on Quadra, and protect those watersheds. We want to map out where everything is and get educational pieces out there about our drinking water - 'don’t be polluting this area!'” explained Jason Price, Director of Lands for the We Wai Kai First Nation.


“The ICAN Society was trying to do the same thing for a watershed study. I went over to Quadra to see what the group was about, and what they're trying to do.”


ICAN had just applied for a $50,000 grant from the Real Estate Foundation and been denied. 


Jason Price: “So I was like, ‘I'll keep my eyes open and if something pops up maybe we could jointly submit an application under the Nation's name, because we'll have better chances using the Nation's name. There are millions of societies, but there's only X amount of First Nations.’” 


“We are open to partnerships with any groups that have a common interest with what we're trying to accomplish. If nobody's talking to each other, we're both fighting for the same money, but if we go in together it looks ten times better. They're funding two interest groups with one application, if you're looking at it from a funder's perspective.”   


"I got an email maybe a few months later about a new initiative through the Indigenous Watersheds. So I was like, 'that sounds exactly what we're wanting to do.' I worked with some of the ICAN Society to develop what they're actually going to be doing. Then I submitted it all and  I ended up hearing back later that we got funded for I think it was $280,000 for the entire project.”

Jason Price administers the grant.