4 - Land Acknowledgement

As we set off on our soundwalk we’d like to acknowledge the colonial conditions of our collective presence on the land that Kensington Market occupies and acknowledge that this is the homeland of the Anishinaabe, Haudenasaunee and Huron Wendat peoples. We can never forget what this means, to occupy. It means to take by force for the benefit of one group at the expense of another. This is Treaty 13 territory, also known as the Toronto Purchase, signed in 1787 by representatives of the Crown and a band of Anishinaabeg known as today the Mississaugas of the New Credit.
The treaty was under dispute for more than 200 years - partly because the boundaries and size of the territory were unclear, and because the Mississauga’s understood that they were renting the land through the agreement, not extinguishing rights to the land. The exchange was mainly in trade items – gun flints, brass kettles, mirrors, laced hats, a bale of flowered flannel, and rum. The purchase was revised 1805 and a land claims dispute followed, which was settled in 2010. Today Toronto is home to many First Nations, Inuit, and Metis as well as many other diverse communities. This soundwalk will exist on the Echoes app, virtually annotating the landscape. We are grateful to the Indigenous people here and across Turtle Island for their hospitality and are committed to working toward decolonial justice with them.

To learn more about the Toronto Purchase: https://vimeo.com/221326995

Special thanks to Dr. Mary Bunch & Dr. Dolleen Tisawii'ashii Manning for this Land Acknowledgement.