My home in Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, land that was granted to the Haudenosaunee of the Six Nations of the Grand River. It was traditionally used by the Neutral, Anishinaabe, and Haudenosaunee people. My cottage in Haliburton County is located on traditional territory of the Anishinaabe Mississauga and land covered by the Williams Treaties. As a descendant of European settlers, throughout my life I have lived, traveled, and photographed on the territories of many additional indigenous groups. This landscape has nurtured and shaped me from childhood.
As an artist and writer I look to nature for inspiration, health, and a source of spirituality. This land would not be what it is without the people who have lived here and protected it for millenia. I would not be who I am. I acknowledge their wisdom and traditional practices that may help preserve the land we all need to survive. Much work is still needed to address the harm caused by colonial practices, trauma from the residential school system, and ongoing racism and injustice in Canada and elsewhere. Land acknowledgements are only a starting place for me, and for all of us.