Stellar Stories #AloneTogether

We have the honour of being guests on this land, the traditional
lands and waters of the Petun and Wendat Peoples,
the Anishinaabek and Haudenosaunee Confederacies, and
most recently the Mississaugas of the Credit River, as well
as many other Indigenous nations, some of whose names
are no longer remembered. We acknowledge all who
came before us and have travelled the lands and waters of
this territory.
By saying the names of its original keepers, we remember
that this territory continues to be subject to the Dish
with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement
between the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and Three Fires
Confederacy of the Anishinaabeg to peaceably share and
care for the resources around the Great Lakes. Today, the
meeting place of Toronto is still the home to many Indigenous
Peoples from across the continent, and we are
grateful to work in the community on this territory.
While reconciliation means different things to each community,
let it compel all of us to move beyond words of
acknowledgement. If it were a word in Anishinaabemowin, it
would be a verb meaning to make right the wrongs, and in
context, to commit to learning the history and responsibility
in the genocide, displacement, and theft of land from the
Indigenous nations across the land known as Canada, and
to continuously decolonize colonial frameworks and roles
that were imposed upon Indigenous nations. We remind
ourselves of how urgently current this history is and that
we all have a choice in how we participate in the treaty
of this place.