We have been witnessed the impacts of ongoing settler colonialism in the so-called state of Canada with the attacks on Wet'suwet'en land defenders, over 5,712 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2-Spirit folks and over 10,000 unmarked graves being uncovered at a residential schools or forced assimilation encampments across the country. Indigenous land defenders have been protecting their land against capitalistic resource extraction, colonial RCMP invasions and genocide. Acknowledging the land on which we reside entreats us to acknowledge that settler colonialism does not exist in the past tense but is a current ongoing process in which we are all implicated.

Today, we want to honour solidarity with our Indigenous comrades, siblings and friends who are in mourning and we want to engage in land back acknowledgements, as many Indigenous scholars have called for. When we read out the traditional territories of the lands, we are calling for land back to the holders and caretakers of these territories. Land back-knowledgement focuses on an unapologetic delivery that names the violence that has occurred and continues to occur in the creation of Canada. And so, with acknowledging all of this, we want to honour the land we are currently on which is the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

We also acknowledge that Tkaronto is covered by Treaty 13 signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the Williams Treaty signed with multiple Mississaugas and Chippewa bands. We acknowledge the current treaty holders, the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. This territory is also subiect to the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant (along with treaty 13), an agreement to peaceably share and care for the Great Lakes region. The dish with one spoon also means that we all eat out of the Dish (which is Southern Ontario) - all of us that share this territory - with only one spoon. Despite centuries of colonial theft and violence, this is still Indigenous land. It will always be Indigenous land, Indigenous people in Turtle Island are not relics of the past and as workers, we stand in solidarity with our comrades in their struggle against colonial and state violence.