The ECHO Collective, alongside various community and university partners have been holding a series of gatherings focused on connecting health, communities, lands, waters, and climate conversations through Indigenous co-led and intergenerational events. The first gathering in this series was held on October 12th, 2022, and was co-hosted with Cowichan Tribes and the Environment, Community Health Observatory (ECHO) Network in the Cowichan Watershed, on unceded Quw’utsun territory. This gathering brought together community, environmental, government, health authority and research colleagues to ‘come together as a whole’ to address critical connections among climate, land, water, community and health concerns. The gathering was centered around a key principle described in the Cowichan Watershed Board governance manual in relation to the ancient Cowichan Tribes principle “Nutsamat kws syaay's tthu qa’: “We come together as a whole to work together to be stronger as partners for the watershed”.

Through a series of connecting conversations, the morning session began with a breakfast; profiled Indigenous-led environment and community health initiatives in the Cowichan region; discussed the alignments between the Drinking Water Protection Act (DWPA) legislative review and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA); promoted youth engagement in land-, water- and climate-based initiatives; and centered strengthening capacity for integrative approaches to complex issues relevant to the Cowichan region, BC, Canada and beyond. These discussions were expanded through place-based conversations around the Cowichan Watershed, starting at the Cowichan estuary, visiting the Cowichan River at Stoltz, and ending at Cowichan Lake. Moving together upstream, our conversations explored climate, land and water concerns, as well as community actions, and the connections and co-benefits that arise when upstream-downstream stories of cumulative effects are centered when addressing coastal-marine issues.

To learn more about our gathering, and view photos and graphic recordings from the event, please read the linked Summary Report.