Celebrating Nancy Grant’s extraordinary life of support for Salt Spring Island
Living by the ocean, amongst old growth forests on an island in the Salish Sea, Nancy Grant created a legacy of nature. In her own way of being on this earth, she left quiet markers of her dedication to social justice issues and their relationship to ecological justice. She did this during her lifetime and through gifts in her Will.
Nancy was an early adopter of the concept of land trusts. As a founding donor to TLC – The Land Conservancy of British Columbia and then the Salt Spring Island Conservancy, she placed her own lands in one of the first conservation covenants. She named it the Ruffed Grouse Covenant, after the bird she loved to observe in the spring and wanted to protect and preserve.
She appreciated that vulnerable people are disproportionately affected by environmental and land use changes: ecological and community health go hand in hand.
As a Salt Spring Island resident, Nancy was deeply aware of the importance of the Islands Trust, a unique governance structure where decisions about land use on the Gulf Islands are rooted in a mandate to preserve and protect.
Her cousin and executor of her estate, Briony Penn, says, “she attended every meeting of the Islands Trust. She was a strong observer of democracy. Nancy listened, and she had a good nose for authentic need.”
Nancy was active in her community and jumped into action when the public laundromat in the heart of Ganges closed. She knew this was more than a place to clean one’s clothes. It was an important gathering place. Nancy joined with others to support the Wagon Wheel Housing Society, a grassroots charity committed to providing a laundromat, showers, coffee, a space for local artists to showcase their works, and more, including housing for single parents and women in need.
Nancy’s family heritage on the coast began in the 1850s, in the halls of business and law, and she was keenly aware that her personal privilege was tied to the impact of colonization. At a time before this was common, Nancy felt the need to give back and quietly donated to many charities in her home communities of Victoria and Salt Spring as well as around the world.
She was an early supporter of the newly formed Stqeeye’ Learning Society to promote the wellbeing of Indigenous youth through ecological restoration of their territory within Xwaaqw’um, or Burgoyne Bay Provincial Park, on Salt Spring Island. Her initial gifts supported a new governance structure that laid the foundation for the charity’s sustainability.
Briony also remembers that her cousin relished arts and culture. Nancy supported and attended live theatre and choral performances at ArtSpring, the community’s performing and visual arts centre.
These are but a few of the ways Nancy showed her interest and compassion for her community. She believed in the power of the collective, now and into the future.
On her passing in 2021, after gifts were made to loved ones and specific charities, Nancy left the rest of her estate to the Salt Spring Island Foundation and the Victoria Foundation. Briony says, “Nancy felt that community foundations are the best organizations to evaluate over time the priorities in a community. They are well-positioned through their governance and their relationships with charities to stay relevant into the future.”
The Nancy Grant Fund supports the foundation’s Community Grants Program, environmental initiatives, scholarships and bursaries, the purchase of medical equipment, and children’s health.
The Victoria Foundation is honoured to carry out Nancy Grant’s legacy which echoes her own nature: her deep concern for others and their environment.