Making Mistakes - Trying to do better

We all make mistakes. The trick is learning from them. 

One of the things we learned with our Paint Pour Project was that we have caused harm to some of our Indigenous folk in the community with the way in which we approached our Land Acknowledgement during our event. 

Some felt that we treated it like it was an onerous task and done begrudgingly. 
Others stated that they didn't like how we put the onus on non-Indigenous people to figure out what they wanted to do to create a more socially just community that acknowledges Indigenous sovereignty and rights. 

We are very sorry for the harm that we have caused these individuals, and are in the process of doing a number of things to show our commitment to acting like an ally with Indigenous peoples. 

We have offered some of our personal items up for auction for the benefit of several organizations and communities that do work with 1492 Landback as well as Two-Spirit organizations in Ontario. We have financially donated to these (and other) organizations. We have participated in workshops/discussions with Two-Spirit individuals and listened to what they want within those discussions. 

We are currently working on putting together a Land Acknowledgement that we hope that our community will feel honours the land and the people who have been its stewards for centuries. At the same time, we will  continue to invite participants in our workshops to read a portion of the 94 Calls to Action and  choose one way that they can support Indigenous Sovereignty, Rights, and social justice. In so doing, we hope that we can foster a better relationship with Two-Spirit and Indigenous trans-folk.