ᑕᓂᓯ! Tansi! Tawnshi! Edlanat’e! Aba washded!

Hello…! Namaste…!

The place of my work and current residence, Saskatoon, is situated on Treaty Six. This is the land of the Cree, Saulteaux, Dene, Dakota, Lakota, Nakota, and Métis nations. This is land where they have existed for thousands of years. Here they have endured genocide attempts by settlers. This is land where their children were stolen. They are still standing stronger and will forever…!

My family has suffered and survived similar wounds in India and was forced to be removed from their homeland because of the partition of India in 1947, resulted from the evils of colonialism. To honor my ancestors, it’s of utmost importance for me to never take part and become part of the oppressors. We need to honor and affirm that the indigenous people of Cree, Saulteaux, Dene, Dakota, Lakota, Nakota, and Métis are unquestioned owners of this land. Whether it’s mentioned or not in treaties, this land still belongs to them and is being shared by them with settlers as guests. I will take part, to never let the truth be forgotten by generations to come and their cultural adaptation for co-existence with indigenous people. We need to work towards healing and undoing the heinous acts of still ongoing colonization. There is a need to redefine the social fabric. What has been done can’t be undone, but facts can’t be denied. we need to accept the truth and work to reconcile for peace and harmony for future generations.

Finally, we should all never forget the fundamental facts, while as humans we struggle about who has the right to this land and its resources are limited and needs to be taken care of in environmentally conscious ways. We need to accept; that none of us has inherited the Earth but borrowed it from our children. We have a collective responsibility to preserve it for all our future generations.

Here is the  video I created for my ECCU400 course that reflects my  understanding of Miskâsowin and Kihci-asotamâtowin– 

Sunaina