Group created on Oct 15, 2025
Welcome Figure Project for Bowen Island (Nex̱wlélex̱wm)
Giving Group Bowen Island, BC
Join to post in the group and receive group messages.
Total raised since group was created
$7,418.00
Last gift received on Oct 2, 2026
Highlights
$0.00
Total given to charities, Campaigns, or other Givings Groups
$7,418.00
Money currently available to give from this group
This Giving Group supports...
This group has not yet chosen a Campaign or charity to support.
Group Admins
An Invitation to all to Co-Create a Symbol of Reconciliation and Friendship. We are at the beginning of a community project to raise funds and support for the carving and installation of a Squamish Welcome Figure at the Snug Cove beach on Bowen Island/Nex̱wlélex̱wm.
Why a welcome figure?
Join our community effort to raise $30,000 for the carving and installation of a Squamish Welcome Figure at the Bowen Island Community Centre. In September 2026 we hit our first goal of raising $15,000 with a generous $10,000 grant from the Community Credit Union and more than $5,000 from local islanders. This means the carving can begin!
We are now in the process of raising a further $15,000 to complete the project by next year. Join the effort and spread the word!
Welcome Figures are carved by Coast Salish artists to offer greeting, connection, and hospitality to all who arrive on Squamish territory. This proposed figure will:
1) Recognize Squamish historical connections to Nex̱wlélex̱wm.
2) Extend a visible, meaningful welcome to all who come to the island.
3) Build upon past gestures such as the installation of the “Nex̱wlélex̱wm” sign at the ferry landing in 2020.
4) Deepen cultural understanding and relationships between the Squamish Nation and Bowen Island residents.
5) Be created in collaboration with Squamish artists.
This project builds on the work of reconciliation and relationship building between residents of Bowen Island/Nex̱wlélex̱wm and our hosts, the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwimixw (the Squamish Nation). Since before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission reported, citizens on Bowen Island/Nex̱wlélex̱wm have worked with the Nation on initiatives to build knowledge, awareness and collaboration.
In 2017, Pauline Le Bel, with the support of the Bowen Island Public Library and the Bowen Island Arts Council, created "Knowing Our Place," to learn our true history with Indigenous people and to deepen our relationship with the Squamish Nation.
As part of Knowing Our Place, in 2020, Elders from the Squamish Ocean Going Canoe Family came in ceremony to bless a sign welcoming people to Nex̱wlélex̱wm, the Squamish Nation name for Bowen Island. At that ceremony the idea was born to create and install a Welcome Figure on Bowen Island as a tangible mark of the relationship between the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Uxwimixw and the Nex̱wlélex̱wm Uxwimixw (the villagers of Bowen Island).
This project responds to several of the Calls to Action in the Truth and Reconciliation report and extends the spirit of those calls with a tangible, community-initiated project to recognize and affirm the Squamish Nation and its territory and to acknowledge our place within it.
How to help
We are inviting community members to join us in bringing this project to life:
1) By donating to our fund.
2) By offering support, ideas, or time to the project team.
3) By helping us honour the spirit of welcome that defines this place.
Contact
For more information or to get involved, please contact:
Chris Corrigan ([email protected]) or Pauline Le Bel ([email protected])
Group created on Oct 15, 2025
Total raised since group was created
$7,418.00
Last gift received on Oct 2, 2026
Highlights
$0.00
Total given to charities, Campaigns, or other Givings Groups
$7,418.00
Money currently available to give from this group
This Giving Group supports...
This group has not yet chosen a Campaign or charity to support.
Welcome Figure Project for Bowen Island (Nex̱wlélex̱wm)
Giving Group Bowen Island, BC
Join to post in the group and receive group messages.
Group created on Oct 15, 2025
Total raised since group was created
$7,418.00
Last gift received on Oct 2, 2026
Highlights
$0.00
Total given to charities, Campaigns, or other Givings Groups
$7,418.00
Money currently available to give from this group
This Giving Group supports...
This group has not yet chosen a Campaign or charity to support.
Group Admins
An Invitation to all to Co-Create a Symbol of Reconciliation and Friendship. We are at the beginning of a community project to raise funds and support for the carving and installation of a Squamish Welcome Figure at the Snug Cove beach on Bowen Island/Nex̱wlélex̱wm.
Why a welcome figure?
Join our community effort to raise $30,000 for the carving and installation of a Squamish Welcome Figure at the Bowen Island Community Centre. In September 2026 we hit our first goal of raising $15,000 with a generous $10,000 grant from the Community Credit Union and more than $5,000 from local islanders. This means the carving can begin!
We are now in the process of raising a further $15,000 to complete the project by next year. Join the effort and spread the word!
Welcome Figures are carved by Coast Salish artists to offer greeting, connection, and hospitality to all who arrive on Squamish territory. This proposed figure will:
1) Recognize Squamish historical connections to Nex̱wlélex̱wm.
2) Extend a visible, meaningful welcome to all who come to the island.
3) Build upon past gestures such as the installation of the “Nex̱wlélex̱wm” sign at the ferry landing in 2020.
4) Deepen cultural understanding and relationships between the Squamish Nation and Bowen Island residents.
5) Be created in collaboration with Squamish artists.
This project builds on the work of reconciliation and relationship building between residents of Bowen Island/Nex̱wlélex̱wm and our hosts, the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwimixw (the Squamish Nation). Since before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission reported, citizens on Bowen Island/Nex̱wlélex̱wm have worked with the Nation on initiatives to build knowledge, awareness and collaboration.
In 2017, Pauline Le Bel, with the support of the Bowen Island Public Library and the Bowen Island Arts Council, created "Knowing Our Place," to learn our true history with Indigenous people and to deepen our relationship with the Squamish Nation.
As part of Knowing Our Place, in 2020, Elders from the Squamish Ocean Going Canoe Family came in ceremony to bless a sign welcoming people to Nex̱wlélex̱wm, the Squamish Nation name for Bowen Island. At that ceremony the idea was born to create and install a Welcome Figure on Bowen Island as a tangible mark of the relationship between the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Uxwimixw and the Nex̱wlélex̱wm Uxwimixw (the villagers of Bowen Island).
This project responds to several of the Calls to Action in the Truth and Reconciliation report and extends the spirit of those calls with a tangible, community-initiated project to recognize and affirm the Squamish Nation and its territory and to acknowledge our place within it.
How to help
We are inviting community members to join us in bringing this project to life:
1) By donating to our fund.
2) By offering support, ideas, or time to the project team.
3) By helping us honour the spirit of welcome that defines this place.
Contact
For more information or to get involved, please contact:
Chris Corrigan ([email protected]) or Pauline Le Bel ([email protected])
Group created on Oct 15, 2025
Total raised since group was created
$7,418.00
Last gift received on Oct 2, 2026
Highlights
$0.00
Total given to charities, Campaigns, or other Givings Groups
$7,418.00
Money currently available to give from this group
This Giving Group supports...
This group has not yet chosen a Campaign or charity to support.