The land Be the Peace Institute practices in is part of Mi’kma’ki, the traditional and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq peoples.
Since the 94 calls to action outlined in Canada’s 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, it has become commonplace to begin gatherings or meetings with a land acknowledgement that recognizes our locations on Turtle Island as ancestral and unceded territory of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples.
As a routine, land acknowledgements bring consciousness to the presence of first peoples on these lands for over 11,000 years. In some ways this has been a necessary first step toward honouring the culture, governance, heritage and language of the original and current occupants of a place- speaking that truth publicly and regularly and referencing the painful history of colonization.
In other ways, they can appear as empty gestures-- rotely checking a box or as performative allyship. Some Indigenous thinkers believe regular land acknowledgements may be doing more harm than good, detracting from the real history and existence of treaties as constitutionally binding agreements between the British Crown and Indigenous peoples to share the use of their ancestral land for mutual obligation and benefit. While we verbally acknowledge the ongoing robbery of land, culture and language, it rarely translates into return of that land to its original stewards. The theft of land, the history of oppression, and ongoing harms remain unresolved.
Land and peoples acknowledgements have implications for all of us who currently inhabit this place, and especially for those who have reaped the most reward, often at the expense of ecological harmony and human equity. The statement that “we are all treaty people” suggests a reciprocal and active relationship in repairing the harms of our shared history of oppressors and oppressed. Everyday racism is real. Discrimination, bias, micro-aggressions persist today in both subtle and overt ways. Thousands of Indigenous women and girls are missing or murdered without due justice or accountability, even as Indigenous women are the fastest growing incarcerated population across the country—those most marginalized by systems, being criminalized instead of helped. In this context, verbal land acknowledgements are obviously wholly insufficient.
We were considering recently that the first Treaty of Peace and Friendship, its name revealing what was supposed to be its clear mandate, was signed in 1725, just shy of 300 years ago. One wonders whether there ever was honourable intention by the British crown to honour those treaties given the systematic squeezing of the people from their territory, displacing them from their lands, forcibly marching them to relocation at gunpoint. The Blanket Exercise offered by the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre in Halifax and other groups, is a visceral experience, a bare inkling of what that might have been like for successive generations to bear. (We highly recommend that as part of an ongoing learning journey about Indigenous history.)
In the 300 years since the first Treaty, there was an astonishing period of 100 years or so of settler authorities ripping young children from their parents, families and communities and forcing them into the cruelty of residential schools. For untold numbers of children their lives ended there, buried unbeknownst to their families, in unmarked graves. As we stripped those young souls of voice, language, caring, cultural supports and symbols, we stripped them and their brethren of dignity, agency and worth. Is it any wonder that successive generations suffer under the legacy of that depth of deprivation?
At the recent conference, “Transformation Through Ubuntu: An Africentric Perspective” hosted by the Delmore Buddy Daye Learning Institute in Halifax and partners, the esteemed Dr. Molefi Kete Asante described the journey of people of African heritage in a way that illuminates the depth of the damage done by colonialist and white supremacist ways, paraphrased here:
“... a complete disconnect from philosophy, culture and heritage… disorientation, dislocation from our foundations, and the need to re-locate and re-centre ourselves… stripped by forced migration and oppression… depriving us of knowledge and education in 246 years of bondage… that is at the very heart of our thinking about society, ourselves and the world…”
It is for all people similarly oppressed, a painstaking, fraught, trauma-riddled, multi-generational process. But we all can contribute to the systemic and social change needed to create anti-oppressive, egalitarian and compassionate spaces for healing and reconciliation to be more possible.
We are a small organization devoted to addressing the oppressive roots and harmful consequences of gender-based violence in all its forms and advancing systemic change through an intersectional trans-inclusive feminist lens. We are continually exploring what anti-racism, decolonization and reconciliation looks like in our actions and within our spheres of influence. While land acknowledgements remain a part of our regular practice, we also need to ensure we are genuine in our commitments and actions. We know we have a role in working to undo the violence and trauma that is part of the daily dynamics of settler colonial structures and systems by things like:
Building trust through collaborative partnerships and joint leadership
Sharing Information, resources and opportunities across our sector and beyond
Inclusive invitation and welcoming diversity within our organization, on our Board and in our networks
Showing up at cultural events
Expanding our view through ongoing learning journeys rather than expecting the free labour of those most affected to teach us
Supporting the TRC and MMIWG calls to action and justice, particularly those addressing domestic violence, sexual abuse, family law reform, child protection and victim services, and intergenerational harm from the violent legacy of residential schools
Advocating in alignment with the growing movement across Canada to raise an alarm about the extreme violence targeting 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.
Supporting research and implementation of culturally responsive and adept health and social services
Holding space for those with lived-expertise to speak their own stories in their own words, and letting those inform analysis of root causes of violence, hate crimes and femicide
And finally staying vigilant to the harm we cause through our own ignorance or inattention
Be the Peace Institute is committed to implementing actionable initiatives, preventive solutions to eliminate all forms of gender-based violence, to improve social, health and economic equity, and transformation of systemic and social patterns toward social justice and peace.
In the spirit of humility and reciprocity, we offer respect and gratitude to elders past and present, to land and water protectors unrelenting in their purpose and at great personal expense, for the benefit of us all and to the Earth and all beings that sustain us.