Who Are We?
Our Vision and Mission
It’s HAT’s vision that the lands and waters of the southern Salish Sea are stewarded to sustain their health, cultural values, and biodiversity through reciprocal relationships for generations to come. Our mission is to support the stewardship of eco-culturally significant lands in the southern Salish Sea region, ensuring their long-term care and contributing to biodiversity conservation and climate resiliency.
For more details, review our strategic plan.
History
HAT was established in 1996 by the Victoria Natural History Society. The VNHS envisioned a local land trust that would directly conserve land by acquiring titles and covenants and by working with residents to foster stewardship of natural ecosystems.
HAT was involved in promoting the effort to establish a Sea-to-Sea Greenbelt in the Sooke Hills and beyond. As a result of that effort, HAT worked with the Society to Protect Ayum Creek to conserve Ayum Estuary. That purchase became our first acquisition. Today, the Sea-to-Sea Greenbelt is over 95% protected, and HAT protects over 1,600 hectares of natural habitats.
Territory Acknowledgement
The work of Habitat Acquisition Trust (HAT) takes place on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of several Host Nations, including the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples (Songhees Nation and Xʷsepsəm Nation), W̱SÁNEĆ peoples (BOḰEĆEN (Pauquachin), MÁLEXEȽ (Malahat) SȾÁUTW̱ (Tsawout), W̱JOȽEȽP (Tsartlip), and W̱SIḴEM (Tseycum) Nations), T’Sou-ke, SĆIȺNEW̱, paaʔčiidʔatx̣ (Pacheedaht), and Spune’luxutth (Penelekut) Nations. We acknowledge and honour the deep and enduring connections that these Nations have with the lands and waters. This is not just an acknowledgment of past injustices, but a living commitment to help shape an equitable future. For millennia, these lands have been stewarded by communities through deep relationships, knowledge, laws, and practices.
As a conservation organization, we recognize that the current state of conservation is a result of colonial systems that have historically dispossessed Indigenous peoples from their territories and excluded their voices and wisdom. We believe that true and lasting conservation can only be achieved through reconciliation and the decolonization of our practices. Under the continued guidance of our Indigenous Hosts on these territories, HAT is building on the lessons learned from our external decolonization audit. We are working to embed meaningful action and principles into HAT’s structures, policies, and communications. We acknowledge that this work is ongoing, and we are prioritizing cultivating trust-based relationships with Host Nations and communities alike.
Where We Work
HAT works in a spectacular part of Canada in the southwest corner of British Columbia. Our mandate area centres around the Capital Regional District of British Columbia, consisting of southern Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands. This is a special part of the world where the warm, mild climate is home to species and habitats that cannot be found elsewhere in Canada. Some of these ecosystems and species are the most endangered in the country. A disproportionate number of BC's threatened and endangered species occur in our region.
If you are looking for more conservancies around the region, please follow this link to a list of Non-Profit Conservancies in BC.
Strategic Plan
HAT creates a new strategic plan every four years that guides the organization’s decisions, staff, and work to ensure we meet goals decided by our board, funders, and members.
Annual Reports and Financial Statements
Take a look at our Annual Reports and Financial Statements to learn more about what we have been up to, how we are spending your donations, and our organizational health.
Policies
HAT has organizational policies approved by our Board of Directors that guide HAT activities. For a look at all of HAT's policies, please see the attached HAT Policy Manual.
Structure
HAT is a registered society (S-36193) with an elected, volunteer Board of Directors. We are also a registered charity (88962 6545 RR0001). As a registered society, HAT has a constitution and a set of by-laws to which we adhere.