Before offering this resource guide, we feel it is important to locate ourselves on land. Turtle Island is stolen land. The country we call 'Canada' is a settler-colonial state that continues to perpetuate violence against Indigenous peoples, Black people, and people of colour (particularly Indigenous women, Two-Spirit, queer and trans of colour individuals and disabled people).

We do not want to offer a generic territorial acknowledgment because we do not think this is always a disruptive practice (especially when it becomes more of a script) and we want to encourage everyone reading (ourselves included) to take a moment to ask the following ...

Chelsea Vowel explains that territorial acknowledgements

cannot merely be to inform an ignorant public that Indigenous peoples exist, and that Canada has a history of colonialism … I think we need to start imagining a constellation of relationships that must be entered into beyond territorial acknowledgments ...Moving beyond territorial acknowledgments means asking hard questions about what needs to be done once we’re ‘aware of Indigenous presence’. It requires that we remain uncomfortable, and it means making concrete, disruptive change. How can you be in a good relationship with Indigenous peoples, with non-human beings, with the land and water? No ideas? Well, it’s a good thing Indigenous peoples are still here, because our legal orders address all of those questions. So why aren’t you asking us?

It is important to listen and learn the legal orders and protocols of how to be in a good relationship. We say Miigweetch and Nia:wen to the Indigenous peoples who have lived on and cared for this land.

The University of Toronto is located on the traditional territories of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Tkaranto more broadly is on the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and Wendat peoples and is a place where many diverse First Nations, Métis and Inuit people live. "Toronto" is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit.

Tkaranto is on the Land of the Dish with One Spoon Treaty, which was made between the Hodenosaunee League of the original Five Nations (Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca) and the confederacy of the Anishinabek and their allied nations (Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, Mississauga, Saulteaux and Algonquin).

The origins of the Dish with One Spoon are found in the roots of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Great Peace itself. The Haudenosaunee Peacemaker, who was sent by the Creator to spread the principles of Kaiwiio or good mind, demonstrated the One Dish/One Spoon principle in an analogy to the fifty Haudenosaunee Chiefs. Sitting in a circle the Chiefs listened to the Peacemaker express this principle by passing around a bowl of cooked beaver tail stew each taking only what they needed, knowing the bowl had to complete its circle. The One Dish demonstrated the collective responsibility of the people to share equally. The Spoon reinforced the concept of sharing and represented the avoidance of sharp instruments at gatherings – so that there would be no conflict or bloodshed - even sharp words were prohibited. The Dish with One Spoon agreement was both for then and for the future. - Dr. Sandra Styres, October 1, 2020, from Centring Land in Research and Communities Class

This treaty was made pre-European contact and represents a mentality that Indigenous peoples had when making treaties with European settlers. They entered those treaties under the belief that resources would be shared, world views would be respected, and peace prioritized. Europeans approached treaties with the mindset of owning property and accumulating wealth.

Understanding that the Dish with One Spoon treaty remains an active treaty and one that will continue time immemorial, we invite everyone reading (and especially those of us who are settlers) to reflect on the following questions ...

We also encourage you to support land protection actions happening across Turtle Island. Here are a few you can read more about with resources for action.

Six Nations land defenders - 1492 Land Back

• https://monitormag.ca/articles/1492-land-back-lane-respect-for-indigenous-land-protectors/

• https://thewalrus.ca/standoff-at-1492-land-back-lane/

• https://cptaction.org/support-land-defenders-at-1492-land-back-lane/

Mi'kmaq land defenders

• https://canadians.org/analysis/policing-protest-double-standard

• https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u_LF_bCFBbSijzqJgHNh4-MfpYz0hfdv/view?fbclid=IwAR3v8leJpW8673HoJ4s_kF-gcXS1_uUuuEy_sOoAzwr5bnZ6Z0iOQbIQ3EI

Wet'suwet'en land defenders

• https://unistoten.camp/supportertoolkit/