The Office of the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, in partnership with BC Achievement Foundation, is honoured to announce the recipients of the fifth British Columbia Reconciliation Award. The 2025 award program recognizes four individuals and three organizations each of whom has demonstrated the essence of “putting truth before reconciliation”. Their efforts strengthen relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities while inspiring others to continue this important work.

Individual Recipients:

• Charlene Belleau (Eaglestar Woman) – Williams Lake
• Kevin Borserio (Luu G̱aahlandaay) – Daajing Giids
• Deanna Duncan (H̀búkvs λamalayu) – Klemtu

Phyllis Webstad Emerging Leader

• Dwight Ballantyne – Maple Ridge

Organization Recipients:

• Aboriginal Housing Management Association – Squamish Territory, West Vancouver
• Honouring Our Elders Portrait Legacy Project Coordinating Team – Smithers
• syíyaya Reconciliation Movement – Sechelt

“Reconciliation is about listening deeply, acting with integrity, and standing together in ways that create real and lasting change,” said BC Achievement Foundation Board Member and honorary award advisor, Cloy-e-iis, Judith Sayers. “Across British Columbia, we are seeing powerful examples of leaders who shape solutions that strengthen communities and honour cultural knowledge. The British Columbia Reconciliation Award shines a light on this work — work that transforms systems, restores trust, and opens new pathways forward. It is an honour to recognize the 2025 awardees. On behalf of BC Achievement, congratulations to this year’s recipients, and thank you for showing what reconciliation in action truly looks like.”

BC Achievement Foundation has several established programs honouring excellence and inspiring achievement throughout British Columbia, including the Indigenous Business Award and the First Nations Art Award.

“I am incredibly inspired by the work of the 2025 BC Reconciliation Award recipients,” said the Honourable Wendy Cocchia, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. “Their accomplishments are rooted in sharing knowledge, supporting their communities, and uplifting culture, tradition, and language. These recipients exemplify weaving truth with reconciliation by building understanding, restoring trust, and fostering respectful, enduring relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples across British Columbia. I share my congratulations and deep admiration for all the recipients and their remarkable work.”

As Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, reconciliation is a foundational priority of the mandate of the Honourable Wendy Cocchia. This commitment includes participation in promotion of public awareness of the ongoing journey of reconciliation and developing a legacy through the creation of this award.

The British Columbia Reconciliation Award draws inspiration from the work of the Honourable Steven Point [Xwĕ lī qwĕl tĕl], 28th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, and a founder of the Award. His hand-carved red cedar canoe, Shxwtitostel, currently on display at the BC Legislature buildings, was created as a symbol of reconciliation, with the understanding that “we are all in the same canoe” and must “paddle together” to move forward.

In honour of this legacy, this year’s recipients will receive a print of a canoe paddle designed by artist Stephanie Anderson to commemorate the award. Anderson is a member of the Likhsilyu “Small Frog” clan of the Witsuwit’en Nation, and has ancestral ties to Kwin Begh Yikh, the “House beside the Fire”. Anderson is the Crabtree McLennan Emerging Artist recipient of the 2024 Polygon Award in First Nations Art Award. The paddle designed by Anderson is installed, alongside previous BC Reconciliation Award paddles, at Government House in Victoria.

The 2025 recipients of the BC Reconciliation Award will be recognized in a ceremony held at Government House on January 29, 2026.

The selection committee for the 2025 British Columbia Reconciliation Award is:

• Chief/Kúkpi7 Rosanne Casimir – Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc
• Xyolholemo:t, Brenda Crabtree – Spuzzum Band with Nlaka’pamux and Sto:Lo ancestry
• Dr. Danièle Behn Smith – Eh Cho Dene of Fort Nelson First Nation and Franco-Manitobain/Métis, Red River Valley
• Brendan Eshom – Gitga’at (Hartley Bay) Nation
• Chief Willie Sellars – Williams Lake First Nation of the Secwépemc Nation

Phyllis Webstad Emerging Leader award selection committee:

• Sarika Cullis-Suzuki
• Brendan Eshom

Learn more about the BC Reconciliation Award and the work of the BC Achievement Foundation.