West Moberly Elder says provincial funding strengthens cultural protections

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – Laura Webb, an elder of the West Moberly First Nations, says the provincial government’s funding announcement on Tuesday strengthens protections for sacred areas — like the Tse’K’wa National Historic site.

The province announced Tuesday that it will provide nearly $35 million in new funding to the First Peoples’ Cultural Council (FPCC) and the First Peoples’ Cultural Foundation (FPCF) to support First Nations languages, arts, and cultural heritage revitalization programming and operations.

“The long-term goal is to have Tse’K’wa become an educational place that establishes our footprints here, shares knowledge of how our people have been here a long time and educates everyone about our culture so they can have a deeper understanding of our people,” Webb said.

Executive director of the Tse’K’wa Historical Society, Alyssa Currie, says the society plans to apply to utilize some of the funding.

“It’s always encouraging to see the province pledging more support for Indigenous cultural heritage. It’s definitely something that we plan to make use of to the best of our ability,” Currie said.

She adds that the society has a few projects on the go, with more news to be announced in the coming weeks.

The new funding adds to the $50 million grant provided to FPCC in 2018 to address the language crisis and help revitalize Indigenous languages in British Columbia.