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Our Firm’s Land Acknowledgement

Indigenous communities have always known that being in good relations with peoples, creatures, and the land is integral to wellbeing. In the spirit of living in kinship and community, land acknowledgments are not only a means of declaring sovereignty and treaty rights but are also a way for all people to feel more connected to a place.

BIPOC Executive Search was established in Tkaronto, a Mohawk word that translates to “the place in the water where the trees are standing”. It has been and continues to be the home of the Chippewa, the Wendat, the Haudenosaunee, the Anishnaabeg, the Mississaugas of the Credit, and many other First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples. The area covered by Treaty 13 is signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit. For time immemorial, the lush waterways, rich soils, and purifying effects of the Great Lakes ecosystem have made it a place of abundance for food, medicines, knowledge and cultural exchange, and commerce for Indigenous Peoples.

For those of us at the firm who are non-Indigenous, we will commit to honouring Indigenous ways of being and knowing by slowing down to examine our relationship to land, ecology, and ancestry. We will research and learn about the original caretakers of the lands we are occupying. We will reflect on when and how we arrived at this land. We will actively work on moving from acknowledgment to long-term solidarity, kinship, and relationship-building with Indigenous communities.