June 21, 2022
To honour National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21 every year, Entre Nous Femmes Housing Society will close our offices and provide space for staff and Board members to take the time to reflect, participate and learn about Indigenous rights and presence in our daily lives.
We recently developed an organizational land acknowledgement to recognize the traditional and unceded territories where we collaborate and do our work to operate and provide affordable housing to over 400 families in Metro Vancouver.
We practice sharing this land acknowledgement in our meetings, presentations, introductions and daily email communications because it is essential to acknowledge the traditional territories in which we operate and the history of colonialism which we have benefited from. It is also a public commitment by Entre Nous Femmes Housing Society to support and collaborate with Indigenous groups, organizations, governments and individuals to achieve equality, equity and inclusion.
Our work to support Indigenous presence and leadership is a work in progress, and we still have much to learn and unlearn. By sharing our journey, we hope to bring greater awareness and importance of Indigeneity to our staff, Board, residents and community. We plan that by next National Indigenous People’s Day, we will have more to report on our progress and actions.
If you want to know what traditional territory you are on or how to develop a traditional acknowledgement, Native Land has some great resources listed on its website. We also strongly encourage you to visit each Nation’s website to learn more about and support Indigenous history, language, current cultures and economies, and their vision for the future.
Entre Nous Femmes Housing Society Land Acknowledgement
Entre Nous Femmes Housing Society respectfully acknowledges that we provide affordable homes to over 1400 community members on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples, specifically the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Tah-tu-lo (Semiahmoo), təməxʷ (Katzie), kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), qʼʷa:n̓ƛʼən̓ (Kwantlen), qiqéyt (Qayqayt) and the sc̓əwaθən məsteyəxʷ (Tsawwassen) First Nations.
We are grateful to these Nations for the privilege to live, work and benefit from these lands, and we are thankful for their ongoing stewardship and protection of the lands and waters. As a settler housing organization on traditional unceded territories, we are committed to supporting and collaborating with Indigenous Nations and organizations to ensure everyone has equitable access to safe, secure and affordable housing in the communities we serve.