The University of Toronto Mental Health Student Association would like to acknowledge this sacred land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people, including First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land. The territory consists of ceded land, covered under the Toronto Treaty 13 of the Upper Canada Land Surrenders, and the Williams Treaties, as well as unceded land that continues to be contested. To learn more about why we acknowledge the land, please visit: https://indigenous.utoronto.ca/about/land-acknowledgement/.
We can never work to end systemic and institutional violence if we do not centre the narratives of Aboriginal peoples in our collective decision-making for social justice and equity. As settlers on this territory, we directly benefit from a colonial culture that has overseen the genocide, systematic oppression, and exploitation of Aboriginal peoples. In order to engage in resistance and solidarity against the injustices inflicted on the Aboriginal people of this land, it is imperative we constantly engage in acts of awareness and decolonization. We would also like to pay our respects to Aboriginal leaders and traditional teachers both past and present, and to any of those who may be here with us today: physically, emotionally, and spiritually.