The rare Charitable Research Reserve stewards over 1,200 acres of land, but we are not the first to do so. Most of the land currently in our care is located within the Haldimand Tract, which spans six miles on either side of the Grand River and is the territory of the Onkwehon:we Peoples of the Six Nations of the Grand River. It is also territory of the Anishinaabe Peoples Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. In addition, we steward land at the border of the Upper Canada Treaty No. 3 and Treaty 19 from 1818 which is also territory of the Anishinaabe Peoples Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. We honour and respect the sovereignty of these First Nations and their ancestors. The lands we steward are home to many other First Nations, Métis and Inuit who have moved to the area from across Turtle Island.
As a settler-founded and -led organization, we make this land acknowledgment in admission of the cultural and historical harm inflicted by settlers on Indigenous peoples that has led to generational trauma and systemic injustices that persist to this day, including the dispossession of land. We acknowledge that the lands we live on, work on and derive benefit from were taken away from the original stewards, and it is our goal to restore that connection and to work towards building ethical, reciprocal relationships with the local First Nations of the lands where rare is situated.
We commit to learning about and acting on our responsibilities as settlers of these lands and unlearning our cultural and historical biases that contributed to making these systemic injustices possible in what we now call Canada.