Where I work from and broadcast from is in Montreal, Canada. Montreal is known as Tiohtia’ke, which is unceded indigenous lands of the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka, mohawk and the anishanebg “Algonquin’ people who are recognized as the custodians of these lands and waters on which I am situated and broadcasting from today. Canada is in North America, Turtle Island. Kanien’kehá:ka, has long served as a gathering place for many First Nations including the Haudenosaunee , st-lawrence iroqouains, mohaawk and Huron-Wendat and is NOW home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples. 

As said by Phyllis Reid-Jarvis, a guest on my podcast, “Land acknowledgments are more than words to recite; they are a call to action to foster better understanding among those who occupy the land now known as Canada. They are an acknowledgement of an oppressive system that knowingly robs Indigenous peoples access to their birthright. Land acknowledgements are a first step in moving our nation towards truth and reconciliation.”

I am grateful for the opportunity to live where I do and acknowledge the generations of Indigenous populations who have lived and on this land and have created and taken care of this land before I and the Indigenous populations that live on this land today. I am committed to living and improving my right relationship with the land, the people, my neighbours and with the people who I know and who I don’t yet know and those generations to come on this wonderous planet.

I honour and am always learning about the values and systems and identity of each person I work with. I respect and celebrate each individual’s diversity and difference. I am committed to honouring and valuing the diversity represented in the people I work with and their unique expression as it relates to gender, religion, social status, culture, ethnicity, learning style, ability, race and sexual orientation. I strive to create a safe accepting space that welcomes and fosters each individual person and promotes diversity, equity, justice, equality and belonging.