Land Acknowledgement

The KFL&A Community Drug Strategy Advisory Committee is situated on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and the Huron Wendat peoples. We are a group of people with personal or familial experience of substance use and senior/frontline level representatives from health, social and enforcement services of mixed ancestries who gather to address the impacts of substance use on the KFL&A community.  

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We recognize the devastating impact of colonization and forced assimilation on Indigenous health and well-being and acknowledge the disproportionate effects of substance use on people with Indigenous ancestry. We acknowledge the considerable benefit experienced by non-Indigenous People in living upon the traditional territories of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Anishinabek Nation. We also recognize the devastating impacts of colonization and assimilation on Indigenous health and wellbeing.  

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We acknowledge this traditional territory to recognize its extensive history that predates the establishment of the earliest European colonies. We also acknowledge this territory's significance for the Indigenous Peoples who lived and continue to live, upon it and whose practices and spiritualities are connected to the land and continue to develop in relationship to the territory and its other inhabitants. We recognize, with humility, our privilege to live, work, learn and play on these lands. 

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We understand that this territory is part of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and the Confederacy of the Ojibwe and Allied Nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes. The Kingston Indigenous community continues to reflect the area's Anishinaabek and Haudenosaunee roots.  

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To ensure this land acknowledgement is action-oriented, the KFL&A Community Drug Strategy Advisory Committee aims to: 

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• Collaborate to identify priorities and integration opportunities of substance use programming and services in KFL&A. 

• Be A Voice to advocate on behalf of the KFL&A Community on policy and funding issues. 

• Embed Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity, and Indigeneity in our practice by listening to, learning from, and meaningfully collaborating with local Indigenous and other equity-seeking community members, groups, and organizations. We recognize that intersections of identity matter because substance use disproportionately impacts some groups more than others. 

• Take a holistic and evidence-informed approach to understanding and addressing substance use in the wider KFL&A community. 

• Respect the impact that substance use has on the broader KFL&A community by taking action and being accountable to the KFL&A community.