Sarah was born in Ottawa and Oliver was born in New York City. For much of our lives, we knew little about the historical stages we were stepping onto, the stories that had played out in each of these cities over many centuries. An anecdote about Peter Minuit purchasing Manhattan for a pittance. A bloody feud between the French and the English over who was more entitled to the spoils of the New World. That's about it.

Throughout our twenties, long before we met, we both found ourselves being guided along a journey of personal healing, growth and self-discovery. This process of egoic deconstruction was facilitated immeasurably by plant medicine and other sacred ceremonies that had been handed down from Indigenous cultures we had been previously unaware of. Overflowing with gratitude, we began to ask more questions about the original inhabitants of the lands we called home.

We were pained to discover that we, as white people with European ancestry, are the beneficiaries of settlers who colonized and terrorized the original peoples and lands of North America, once referred to as Turtle Island. We recognize that the arrival of settler society has led to the ongoing oppression and systematic brutalization of sacred lands, traditions, cultures, families, languages and ways of life of those who inhabited this continent long before we did. We humbly acknowledge the harm that colonial expansion and the settler ideology have inflicted on Indigenous communities and on the earth. 

Ottawa and New York City sit on the unceded, unsurrendered ancestral territories of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation and the Lenape (Lenapehoking) people. We give thanks for the privilege to live here among you.

Thank you to all those, named and unnamed, who have nurtured and protected these lands since the beginning of time. We honor the First Peoples and their allies who continue to defend the waterways, lands, and airways that we all enjoy and intimately depend upon. 

On a more personal note, we wish to express deep gratitude for all the Indigenous peoples and communities that we have been honored to connect, learn and heal with over the past decade. Thank you for so generously welcoming us and sharing your wisdom, traditional teachings and ceremonies that have transformed our perceptions of ourselves, others, nature, and the mysterious universe we inhabit in ways we are still making sense of. 

Our intention is to continue educating ourselves as a means to challenge and dismantle the harmful ideologies we have each internalized. We accept our responsibility for advancing cultural safety and humility for all human beings. We are actively searching for organizations or initiatives with which we can build meaningful relationships and support in enduring ways.