As a newly arrived settler to Tkaranto, I wish to acknowledge my place as a settler here upon the ancestral lands of a number of vibrant Indigenous nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Haudenosaunee, the Chipewa, the Anishnabeg, and the Wendat peoples as signatories of Treaty 13 and the Williams Treaties. It is an honour and a privilege to live, work, and play here.
As a descendant of European colonial settlers, I acknowledge the harsh legacies and injustices of colonialism that were enacted upon by my ancestors, the aftermath of which in many ways persists today. My paternal lineage of the Langille’s can be traced back to the French Foreign Protestants who departed from Montbeliard, France, and sailed from their homelands in search of a better life. This search for a better life was done so at the cost of incalculable Indigenous lives. Upon arrival in Mi’kma’ki, or, Nova Scotia, in 1752, my ancestors played a role in both directly and indirectly displacing and enacting violence upon the Mi’kmaq and the Wolastoqiyik peoples. Although they came to an agreement under the Peace and Friendship Treaties, and the land is still considered unceded to this day, this settlement was anything but friendly or peaceful. My ancestors settled in E'se'katik, the Mi’kmaq term for “place of clams'', the region which is now known as Lunenburg. My father’s family has lived in this region of Nova Scotia’s South Shore for generations, even up until this day, a privilege which I acknowledge has been afforded to me at the expense of the forcible removal of Indigenous peoples, the deportation of the Acadians, and the land which was reaped and sown on the backs of African slaves.
I myself was born in Ktqmkuk, or Newfoundland, the unceded territory of the Beothuk and Mi’kmaq peoples. Similarly, my maternal lineage can be traced back to the mass migrations of the early 19th century from the United Kingdom. As a result of European exploitation, displacement, exposure to disease and violence, the Beothuk population quickly fell into decline following contact. In 1829, Shawnadithit, the last known surviving member of the Beothuk died, extinguishing a once thriving Indigenous nation. I acknowledge this dark legacy which occurred as a result of the settlement of my ancestors.
In a similar mindset of my ancestors who sailed from Europe before me, my family and I moved from Newfoundland to Moh’kinstsis, or Calgary, in the search of a better life. There too, we indirectly benefited from the displacement of Indigenous peoples, including those of the Blackfoot Confederacy, which includes the Siksika, Kainai, Piikani, the Stoney Nakoda, and Tsuut’ina Nations, all of whom were signatories of Treaty 7 during the late 19th century. The settlement of Calgary, which began as a fort, was overseen by the North West Mounted Police, and from its very inception was meant to exclude and fend off Indigenous peoples. Since then, the relationship with Indigenous peoples in Alberta has been a tumultuous one, with their cultures being brought to the forefront and celebrated at events such as the Calgary Stampede, while simultaneously many communities suffer from the effects of pollution and desecration to their lands from mining, oil sands, and deforestation.
I wish to acknowledge my place as a guest here upon this land, and each and every land that I have ever inhabited in this vast place known as Turtle Island. I acknowledge the traumas and injustices which were enacted upon Indigenous peoples and persons of colour, both directly and indirectly by my ancestors, and every generation since then. I acknowledge that the legacy of colonialism did not just simply conclude upon settlement, but has persisted in a multitude of complex ways up until this contemporary era. I also acknowledge the powerful resilience of Indigenous cultures, and the aspects which have been lost. I seek not forgiveness for these harms, but justice and retribution for the future.
We Are All Treaty People.