On August 25, Clare Attwell and Emily McGill represented Regenerate Cascadia at Victoria Forum 2026 as featured guests, leading a panel discussion on what it will take to finance regeneration across Cascadia. They were joined by Cordell Jacks, CEO and general partner of Regenerative Capital Group, and the conversation was facilitated by Donna Morton, co-founder of Salmon Returns. The session, “What Will It Take to Regenerate Cascadia? Bioregional Financing Facilities as Part of the Critical Infrastructure,” ran at 2:55 p.m. at Royal Roads University.
Our panel
The session description in the Forum’s published program introduces Cascadia BioFi as the bioregional finance program of Regenerate Cascadia, working on the financial infrastructure needed for regenerative outcomes across the Cascadia bioregion. It is grounded in a core insight: finance does not flow effectively without social infrastructure.
That is the thread Clare and Emily brought to Victoria. Clare Attwell is co-administrator of Regenerate Cascadia, and Emily McGill is our Community Steward. They sat alongside two guests who work on the other side of the same question, Cordell Jacks of Regenerative Capital Group and Donna Morton of Salmon Returns.
BioFi and the Cascadia Regeneration Fund, across borders
Cascadia does not stop at the 49th parallel. The bioregion runs along the Pacific coast from Southeast Alaska to Northern California, and it needs financial infrastructure that works on both sides of the border. That is the work of Cascadia BioFi, our bioregional finance program, which is developing the Cascadia Regeneration Fund. Our fund page describes the fund as in its design and prototyping phase. A forum hosted in Victoria by Members of the Senate of Canada and two British Columbia universities was a fitting place to ask what it will take.
About the Victoria Forum
Victoria Forum is hosted by Members of the Senate of Canada, the University of Victoria, and Royal Roads University. Under the tagline “Ideas for a better world,” it promotes constructive, evidence-based dialogue on economic, environmental, and social issues, and its work includes impact investing, regenerative capitalism, and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. Its initiatives are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with a particular focus on SDG 16, peace, justice, and strong institutions, and SDG 17, partnerships for the goals. Beyond its flagship conference, the Forum runs discussions, workshops, and webinars.
The 2026 conference took place August 23 to 25 in Victoria, on the traditional territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples. Its theme, Trust, Justice and Wellbeing, rested on three pillars: building trust, fostering justice, and promoting wellbeing, which the Forum describes as moving beyond doing less harm to active restoration and braiding Indigenous knowledge with science and innovation. The program opened at the Songhees Wellness Centre on August 23 and continued at Royal Roads University on August 24 and 25.
A note on the format
Parallel sessions at the Forum are not recorded, and comments made in them are not attributed, to encourage open and candid exchange. For that reason, this post does not report what individual participants said. We are grateful to the Forum’s hosts, to Cordell Jacks and Donna Morton for joining us, and to everyone who took part. We will share what we learn as the work continues.