Honouring Legacies of Indigenous Resistance
Victoria Sexual Assault Centre (VSAC) stands on Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Xʷsepsəm) Peoples territory. We acknowledge the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Xʷsepsəm) and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples (W̱JOȽEȽP (Tsartlip), BOḰEĆEN (Pauquachin), SȾÁUTW̱ (Tsawout), W̱SIḴEM (Tseycum) and MÁLEXEȽ (Malahat)) who have past, present and future relationships with these lands and waters.
We acknowledge Indigenous communities, nations and peoples who uphold their own laws and philosophies when it comes to dealing with gender-based and sexualized violence.
*Please take care when you engage with this blog post, whatever that looks like for you.
In June 2021, the federal government declared September 30th as National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. “Orange Shirt Day – Every Child Matters is a legacy of the St. Joseph Mission (SJM) Residential School (1891-1981) Commemoration Project and Reunion events that took place in Williams Lake, BC, Canada, in May 2013… As spokesperson for the Reunion group leading up to the events, former student Phyllis (Jack) Webstad told her story of her first day at residential school when her shiny new orange shirt, bought by her grandmother, was taken from her as a six-year old girl” (Orange Shirt Day Society).
Language, culture, lives, and people were all stolen through and by residential schools. When the government declares a day, the day of truth and "reconciliation", what are our responsibilities beyond recognition and awareness? We must honour the many paths of resistance that Indigenous peoples take and know that the work goes far beyond one day, and into every moment of our lives year-round. As the Coordinator of Kʷənéŋətəliʔiʔsaət: The Indigenous Response Network (IRN), I am excited to share about the programs and services that VSAC offer all year. These programs and services are legacies of resistance by Indigenous peoples, and as a grandchild and great-grandchild of residential school survivors, I hold great respect for every hwulmuhw mustimuhw (Indigenous person/person of the land) who came before me in this work.
In 2019, VSAC recognized a gap in who was accessing their services and applied for a five-year grant to create the Indigenous Response Network. Kʷənéŋətəl iʔ iʔsaət: The Indigenous Response Network (IRN) was founded by Indigenous and community leaders, Elders, representatives from local nations including Grandma May Sam; Diane Sam; and walsebo, Kathy Horne. Other community partners include PEERS Victoria Resource Society, Victoria Native Friendship Centre, Surrounded by Cedar, and Sci’anew Nation, who all remain represented today. Kʷənéŋətəl iʔ iʔsaət was established on the principles of decentralization, healing, prevention and support with the intention of coming together with compassion, respect, safety and accountability. Goals include increased knowledge of sexualized and gender-based violence (GBV) and the impacts within our communities; reducing instances of GBV, especially amongst those most vulnerable; inclusion of boys and men in prevention work; a better understanding of those who cause harm; and a strengthening of collective voices. The first year, IRN was gifted a name by Lək̓ʷəŋən Language Keepers Florence Dick, Ivy Seward, and Joe Seward from the Songhees Language Program, and a logo designed by artist, Brianna Bear. The current IRN Program Coordinator continues to make sure that lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ protocol is prioritized, through consistent conversations with Elders and community protocol liaisons.
The Medicine Room is a space that grew over the last two years because of the honouring of local knowledges and prioritization of protocol. The Medicine Room is a space within the VSAC office that was designed with guidance from Elders and community protocol liaisons. The space is for healing and has a range of items to support survivors, including food/drinks, beading supplies, medicines (cedar, sage, sweetgrass, tobacco), blankets etc. People can take what they need from the Medicine Room, and can use the space as needed. The space is open to all survivors already accessing our services, but we hope to expand use further as we move forward. The IRN has developed a protocol guide to accompany the Medicine Room, which can be found here.
The Indigenous Crisis Counsellor role was reintroduced at VSAC in 2025. The Indigenous Counsellor brings in community knowledges/understandings to strengthen what she brings in from her Bachelor of Indigenous Social Work degree. In collaboration with the Victoria Native Friendship Centre, she hosts drop-in hours and sees clients there. Offering multiple avenues of access for Indigenous clients through VNFC drop-in to the VSAC office space, builds on the work of breaking down barriers to accessing services. Most importantly, accessing care that is culturally grounded. The Indigenous Counsellor frequently utilizes the Medicine Room, and also supports the wider Direct Client Services work at VSAC through counselling groups, including the Queer & Trans Circle Drop-In group. You can find the Indigenous Counsellor at the VNFC on Fridays for drop-in hours, or see her enjoying VNFC’s soup lunches with community members, Elders and friends. Another way to access the Indigenous counsellor can be found at the bottom of this blog post.
Black Youth Empowerment (B.Y.E.) was a youth-led initiative under Project Respect, VSAC prevention education program. B.Y.E. focused on preventing teen dating violence through culturally grounded workshops, advocacy, and community-based research. Black youth led peer conversations on bystander intervention, race-based violence, and anti-racist practices, while also supporting educators to build safer, culturally responsive learning environments.
Today Black and Indigenous Empowerment (B.I.E.) builds on this work by centering Black and Indigenous youth voices and experiences. This group creates space for connection, skill-building, leadership development, and community. B.I.E. creates spaces for equity-deserving youth to step into leadership, facilitation, and advocacy roles around issues that directly impact their lives. B.I.E is developing and delivering two culturally relevant workshops for high schools: 1) for educators and school staff and 2) for Black, Indigenous and Youth of Colour (BIPOC youth).
I encourage each and every one of you (most importantly, non-Indigenous people), to consider how you are listening to, respecting, paying, honouring, supporting, walking beside, resisting with and holding up Indigenous peoples in your communities everyday.
Here are events on Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Xʷsepsəm) territory, open to all:
If you’ve experienced sexual assault—recently or in the past—we want you to know it was not your fault, and there is support available. Access Line: 250-383-3232 Email: access@vsac.ca.
*VSAC’s Access Line provides information about our services, support and referral to our programs or other community resources.
Written by: siiyčstakšiƛ, Abigail Turner (they/them) IRN Program Coordinator
