We wish to acknowledge this land on which WICTO operates. For thousands of years, this has been the traditional land of the Anishinabewaki (Ah-nish-nah-bay-wa-kee), Haudenousauneega (Ho-deh-no-show-nee-ga) (the Longhouse Confederacy), and the Mississauga. It is also the traditional land of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and was purchased through the Toronto Purchase in 1787 and Treaty 13 in 1803 - however, the actual payment didn’t occur until 2010.(1) We are not guests on this land; we are settlers and therefore we must acknowledge that distinction. By existing and working on Indigenous land, we are responsible and accountable for the ongoing colonization and violence that Indigenous people face. This also extends beyond the University of Toronto. Unless you are Indigenous, you likely occupied Indigenous lands, and will likely occupy Indigenous lands, wherever you may choose to go. Therefore we, as members of WICTO and as individuals, acknowledge that saying we are on occupied and stolen land is not enough. We must constantly be working to take reparative action for this acknowledgment to hold any weight, and that begins with educating ourselves on the history of settler-colonial violence and the impact it continues to have today. We pledge to, as a group and as individuals, take the time to learn the names of the peoples our occupation has displaced. We pledge to learn about their culture, history and current realities that our colonial state attempts to erase. We pledge to maintain a constant respect for their rights and their land. We pledge to be accountable towards Indigenous peoples and to speak up when problematic things are said. Finally, we pledge to question the rejection of Indigenous knowledge by Western Science, and learn/practice how the perspectives of Western science and Indigenous knowledge can be integrated.
_1. The second treaty is considered the more legitimate Toronto Purchase. It is important to note that even the second purchase was under scrutiny for years, and it wasn’t until 2010 that the government of Canada settled the Toronto Purchase Claim, filed by the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, for $145 million dollars (http://mncfn.ca/torontopurchase/).