Justice goes beyond acknowledgement

Over the past few years there has been a trend to start public meetings with a statement such as: “We would like to acknowledge this meeting is being held on the land of the Mississauga People ...”

This seemed an appropriate and longoverdue acknowledgement of indebtedness. But think about it. Suppose you had a greatly prized classic car you had worked on for years, washing and polishing and protecting it from damage.

One day you offered to share it with me. You never got it back but as I roared by in your vehicle (now dented, rusted and leaking oil) and left you trudging along in the ditch would it ease your pain and make you feel compensated if I called out the window, “Hey -- thanks a lot, Buddy?”

I look forward to a time when the opening credits will go beyond “Miigwetch you Guys” to something like:

“We hope those of you present will show our gratitude to these amazing people for their tireless stewardship of the land, their remarkable generosity in sharing it with new arrivals and their incredible forgiveness for the brutal injustices we have heaped upon them by the colonial occupation.”

Please contact your local Friendship Centres and ask how you can become involved in the long process to secure meaningful justice and retribution for our exceptional benefactors who have given us so much and whose wisdom and leadership we must rely on to rescue our world from the precarious state caused by our greed and exploitation.