Amid a recent sobering report from the B.C. government on climate-related disasters, Tsawout First Nation Councillor Mavis Underwood is finding hope in something small and close to home: a patch of seaweed.
In June 2025, the Vancouver Island-based Tsawout became shareholders of Sidney-based Cascadia Seaweed, a company that cultivates kelp responsibly to create sustainable agricultural products.
Cascadia was founded in 2019, the same year Underwood reached out to the company with an interest in protecting the bay off James Island through seaweed farming. Under a newly created marine use law, Tsawout issued Cascadia a licence to install a seaweed farm within its territory.
For Underwood, the project is about giving back to the ocean.
“[It was] a way to help clarify and clean it,” she said. “That, to me, is that increment of hope.”
Underwood acknowledges that some losses can’t be undone – extinct species, kelp forests already gone, or environmental degradation. She’s driven by the phrase “hope matters”, putting her focus on positive actions and partnerships that can make a difference.
Cascadia’s 150×350-metre seaweed farm canopy helps cool down the ocean, oxygenates the water, and uptakes excess nutrients – it also provides sealife habitat and creates a nursery for microorganisms where species can come to feed and rejuvenate. “It’s like a little bit of a hospital,” Underwood said.
The project reflects a broader model of Indigenous stewardship, a concept highlighted in the province’s recent Disaster and Climate Risk and Resilience Assessment as critical to effective climate adaptation and planning.
Another example in Greater Victoria: Pauquachin First Nation’s Marine Department won the Clean Oceans award at the 2025 Ecostar Awards for their extensive work restoring clam gardens and shellfish habitats, blending Indigenous knowledge with science to revitalize traditional harvesting areas like Coles Bay.
For Cascadia CEO Michael Williamson, Indigenous stewardship is central to how the company operates. The company’s first goal after founding was to partner with First Nations, he said.
“They help ensure we’re not introducing non-native species, overgrowing, or overharvesting,” he said.
And yet, many companies don’t prioritize a relationship of stewardship. When asked why Cascadia did, he was quick to answer, highlighting a team of specialists who care deeply about environmental health and food security.
“We’re a B Corp and a B.C. benefit company. Our team comes to work not just for a paycheque, but to do the right thing for the ocean and the planet,” he said.
Today, the company is making a difference through regenerative agribusiness, selling seaweed-derived biostimulants that improve the uptake of fertilizers by plants, allowing them to be used more efficiently and increasing yields, Williamson explained.
“It’s also important to note that seaweed is disappearing from the coast as the climate changes, so we don’t harvest wild seaweed. We build farms, plant it locally, and grow it.”
These farms attract wildlife and create healthy marine environments, while also slowly replenishing kelp forests as the kelp spreads beyond the farm’s ocean plot.
Underwood has seen those effects firsthand.
She often walks out early in the morning with her dog and can see big seals feeding in the area, eagles and osprey dive bombing, which indicates there is fish in the water.
“To me, it’s incredible to see that life back there,” she said.