COVID-19 Update - Important Information
Acknowledgement of First People’s Lands by SickKids CCMH
and SickKids CCMH Learning Institute
This is the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa,
the Haudnosaunee and the Wendat Peoples and it is home today to many diverse First Nations,
Inuit and Métis people.
We acknowledge that these original peoples were nations with political, social and economic
relationships with one another that predated contact with Europeans. We acknowledge the
history of treaty making on which our relations with these original peoples was initially based.
We recognize that we are meeting on the lands covered by Treaty #13, The Toronto Purchase.
We acknowledge that this land was occupied over time by settlers and by enslaved peoples
who were not willing or intentional participants in the occupation and who were themselves
displaced from their homelands. We acknowledge that this settlement did not respect the
initial process of treaty making.
While we did not initiate the process of exploration, contact, and settlement, we have
benefited from it, and we recognize that we are accountable today for our actions on this land
and towards its first peoples.
We commit to hearing the stories of our country’s first peoples, to educating ourselves about
our country’s history with First Nation, Inuit and Métis people and to understanding the cross
generational impact of that history on their families, communities and cultures.
We commit to incorporating our learning into our practice as an organization providing child
and youth mental health services. We seek a position of cultural humility in which we might
engage meaningfully with First Nation, Inuit and Métis neighbours and colleagues in the
interest of our Indigenous clients and their families, caregivers and communities.
We commit to supporting the improved access by First Nation, Inuit and Métis children, youth
and families to Indigenous healing practices and to treatments that are provided in
collaboration with Indigenous healers and elders whenever possible and when this is
requested.
August 9, 2021