We would also like to pay respect to the Elders of Turtle Island (also known as North America), both past and present, and extend that respect to other Indigenous, Inuit and Métis peoples. The home of BNP is within the Haldimand Tract. This land was promised to the Six Nations of the Grand River, and is within the territory of the Attawandaron, Anishinaabe, and Haudenosaunee peoples. It is important that we know how it is that we came to be on this land and be informed about the injustice of colonization that has been a part of that history. The ability to work and live in this place, in Ontario Canada, comes as a direct outcome of colonization, oppression and injustice. These circumstances are not fully historic but continue through present day embedded in federal and municiple policy, unaddressed bias, and unchecked privilege.
This land acknowledgement is purposeful as a first step in bringing visibility to the harms still being experienced by First Nations, Inuit and Métis neighbours. This understanding will inform the work at BNP. We will honour the Two Row Wampum Belt Treaty embracing the Nation to Nation commitment to non-interference, friendship, a good mind, and peace between peoples living in parallel forever (as long as the grass is green, as long as the rivers flow downhill and as long as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west).