Let’s unpack today

I’m going to start by saying I don’t speak for all Indigenous Peoples & these are my feelings (that I’m still unpacking) & I acknowledge the privilege that I have been afforded in my lifetime.⠀

Yes, my family have always celebrated this weekend with a big dinner; our family gathers together & gives thanks for what we are grateful for.⠀

This is a privilege that I am very aware that many people don’t have.⠀

Have we gathered & celebrated someone like Christopher Columbus or any other settler on these lands this weekend? The simple answer is NO!⠀

We’ve joined hands & ate good food & shared the things we were grateful for.

Here are my thoughts on this weekend: acknowledge & give thanks for the land you live, work, & take from.⠀

Take the time (if you haven’t done so already) & learn whose traditional land you are on. Take another step & educate yourself about the peoples.⠀

At the dinner table tonight, stand up amongst your family & friends & teach them how to begin their decolonization journey. Take the time to get uncomfortable talking about the steps you need to take towards reconciliation.⠀

Do I believe you can gather, eat a delicious meal & be grateful for all the things life has afforded you? Yes.⠀

But, do the work to know how you & your family have come to have the privileges you have.⠀

Friends in the USA don’t celebrate today as Columbus Day. Don’t be ignorant & celebrate a man who once enslaved, abused, killed & ordered the death of thousands.⠀

Christopher Columbus didn’t discover this land.⠀

I acknowledge that I am a visitor to the land that my family & I live on.⠀

I acknowledge that my two feet stand on the traditional land of the Haudenosaunee & Anishinaabe peoples. This territory is covered by the Upper Canada Treaties & is within the land protected by the Dish With One Spoon Wampum agreement.

Be grateful for the privilege you live with.⠀

I am grateful for my family, friends & all the privileges I’ve been gifted.