– WAYNE DYER
Ts’uhoont’i Whuzhadel | Welcome | Bienvenue
I would like to acknowledge that I live on the unceded ancestral lands of the Lheidli T’enneh, the people of the confluence of the rivers.
I would like to acknowledge, that without the bravery, wisdom, love, resilience, and honesty of Indigenous peoples, I would not have been able to compose this acknowledgement. Indigenous ways of knowing and being have taught me to articulate something better than what settler histories have left with me. Without Indigenous voices and stories, I would not know better. In light of that gift, I count myself fortunate and responsible, for the change I hope to see.
I thank the land, on which I reside as a colonial citizen. I thank the land I live in a relationship with, as a human connected to place. I acknowledge the complexities of navigating this relationship, as Canadian and Indigenous perspectives of land contribute to my understanding of land and place.
I am horrified by the many individuals and nations that resisted and experienced cultural genocide, inflicted over generations through a variety of atrocities committed by settler colonials. The racism and discrimination that continues today saddens and infuriates me, even as I lend my hand to it in my privileged ignorance.
I thank the Lheidli T’enneh, who welcome me to their territory, and teach me to move forward by “connect[ing] the lessons of the past with the hopes and dreams of the future” (www.lheidli.ca)
I am heartened and inspired to know that, despite these stories and histories, truth and reconciliation is an Indigenous Call to Action. I am so humbled by the powerful people and values, which see and enact relationships as reciprocal, and worthy of attention, remedy, and care.
Only learners create learning. Only learning will promote change.
May I have Respect, Humility, Bravery, Honesty, Love, Wisdom, and Truth, so that I can be a good learner.
