In deep gratitude
We acknowledge that we will be traveling along the Dumoine River (also known as the Cakawitopikak Sipi, and Ekonakwasi Sipi) and the Madawaska River, both of which run through unceded Algonquin territory, where Algonquin peoples have lived since time immemorial. Still today, land claim disputes are ongoing. We are grateful to the Kebaowek First Nation for extending permission to us to travel through the land the Dumoine River flows through.
We recognize the devastating impacts colonialism has had, and continues to have, on Indigenous lands, bodies, languages, governance and knowledges. While colonial mindsets, laws, policies and institutions continue to work tirelessly to disconnect Indigenous peoples from their lands and knowledges, these systems of power have not worked absolutely. The ongoing and active presence of Indigenous peoples, languages, knowledges and protocols on Turtle Island demonstrate the agency Indigenous peoples have always enacted in the defence, protection and honour of their lands, families, ways of being and ways of knowing.
We recognize that as a guiding company on Turtle Island, we have a responsibility to learn about our connections with the past, present and future in an effort to decolonize ourselves and to interrupt colonial discourses. As visitors on this beautiful, sovereign land, we will continue to choose to act in solidarity with Indigenous peoples in the reclamation of Indigenous lands and ways of being.
With Gratitude,
Rachel, Keira, and Ashley
