(Image Credit: B.C. government)

By Aaron Schulze

Charlene Belleau (Eaglestar Woman)

Esk’etemc member receives B.C. Reconciliation Award for work in supporting fellow residential school survivors

Jan 27, 2026 | 11:36 AM

WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — A member of the Esk’etemc, formerly Alkali Lake Indian Band, located south of Williams Lake has received a B.C. Reconciliation Award for 2025. 

The B.C. government credits Charlene Belleau (Eaglestar Woman), a residential school survivor, for devoting her career to advancing reconciliation and supporting fellow residential school survivors, their families and communities across B.C. 

Most recently, Belleau served as the senior investigator for the documentary Sugarcane, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and won Best Documentary Feature at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Sugarcane follows the experiences of filmmaker Julian Brave Noisecat and his father as they learn details about their family and the history of the St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School near Williams Lake. 

Belleau was also appointed as First Nation Liaison by former B.C. Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Murray Rankin in 2021. The province credits Belleau for providing guidance in its response to findings at former residential schools and First Nations hospitals. 

The province also notes Belleau also served as chair of the First Nations Health Council and as Provincial Indian residential School Coordinator, where she served a liaison role with the RCMP Native Indian Residential School Task Force. 

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Tk’emlups Kúkpi7 Rosanne Casimir and Williams Lake First Nation Chief Willie Sellars were two of five members of the B.C. Reconciliation Award committee. 

The province says the 2025 recipients of the B.C. Reconciliation Award will be recognized in a ceremony to be held at Government House on Thursday (Jan. 29).