CUASA Statement on National Indigenous Peoples Day

June 21, 2022

CUASA Statement on National Indigenous Peoples Day

On this National Indigenous Peoples Day, we would like to recognize and celebrate the crucial contributions that Indigenous people have made, and continue to make, throughout CUASA, Carleton, and Turtle Island more broadly.

To our Indigenous colleagues, friends, and neighbours, thank you for your ongoing efforts to better our community. We recognize the massive amounts of work that goes into the necessary process of Indigenization at this institution and the benefits it brings to us all. Our thanks especially to the Omàmìwininìwak (Algonquin) people, on whose land CUASA and Carleton operate.

To our non-Indigenous colleagues, friends, and neighbours, we urge you to educate yourself on Indigenous issues, such as the Land Back movement, the MMIWG2S movement, Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer resilience, and the ongoing process of healing that is being done in the wake of genocide and the residential school system. Learn about the land that you’re on and the peoples to whom it belongs. We also urge everyone to read the Kinàmàgawin Report released in May 2020, as well as the Kinàmàgawin Progress Report, released this month, detailing where we as a community stand in relation to the 41 Calls to Action outlined in the Kinàmàgawin Report.

In closing, we would like to recognize that we are all treaty people. We all have treaty obligations, and it’s up to each of us to learn about those roles and responsibilities so that we may move forward together in pursuit of collective justice.