Land Acknowledgement

The Winnipeg Spiritist Society acknowledges that we live and work in the territories of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Dakota, Dene, Métis, and Oji-Cree Nations. Our centre is located in Treaty 1 territory, the ancestral and traditional homeland of Anishinaabe peoples. Treaty 1, signed in 1871, took this territory from seven local Anishinaabe First Nations in order to make the land available for settler use and ownership.

This treaty was written in English and signed by both parties, but the difference in language led to an oral agreement made between the two parties which failed to express what the written treaty truly represented. This has allowed many legal injustices which persist today, the repercussions of which have devastated the indigenous peoples and the unity of our country for generation after generation, continuing even as we speak.

As Spiritists, we understand how important it is that all people learn to live and work together in shared respect, appreciation, and love. The efforts being made towards revealing obscured and forgotten truths of what has happened and what is still happening this very day in our own society is one step towards this goal, and we should do our best to promote the revelation and understanding of such truths, to help build bonds of common kinship between all peoples.

The core of this land acknowledgement was derived from that of the Department of English at the University of Winnipeg, who drafted their acknowledgement in consultation with First Nations elders at Sagkeeng First Nation in May 2018. For more in-depth discussions of our shared history, and the need to show respect and not repeat past mistakes, please visit their website at https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/english/english-department-land-acknowledgment.html.