Land Acknowledgement

Understory seeks to cultivate networks of improvising artists from across the geo-political territory known as Canada. 

With humility and gratitude, we, the organizers of Understory, acknowledge the treaty and unceded lands upon which we live and create, and offer our deepest thanks to the First Peoples, who for millennia have cared for these lands:

Vancouver and Nanaimo, the unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Snuneymuxw nations

Toronto/Tkaronto, the traditional territories of the Huron-Wendat, the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, under Treaty 13 and Williams Treaties

Fredericton, the unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik, Mi’kmaq and Peskotomuhkati peoples 

We endeavour to support, uplift, nourish and honour, 
the spirits, voices and actions of the land’s Indigenous peoples
in the reclamation and rejuvenation of their culture, history, and traditional lands.

With this first iteration of Understory,
We reflect upon the children whose lives were lost;
upon the families whose children were stolen

As Settlers, we object to the denial of Canada’s colonial present and the ways we participate in creating and perpetuating harm against Indigenous peoples

Understory is inspired by the interdependent processes of an underground root network, beneath the soil, which activates the relationships between trees.

We follow this process from our perspective with the aim to:

Expand community
Build systems of trust
Nurture one another,
Across the Land.

To learn more about the land you live on visit:
https://native-land.ca/ and https://www.whose.land/en/

To read more about Truth and Reconciliation Commission Reports visit: https://nctr.ca/records/reports/ 

To donate to Indian Residential School Survivors Society, visit: https://www.irsss.ca/

To donate to Indigenous Climate Action, visit: https://www.indigenousclimateaction.com/

To learn more about Environmental Personhood and Rights of Nature, visit: https://theconversation.com/rights-for-nature-how-granting-a-river-personhood-could-help-protect-it-157117

Beyond Land Acknowledgment: https://etfofnmi.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Going-Beyond-A-Land-Acknowledgement-FINAL-VERSION.pdf