Land Acknowledgement & Commitments

Acknowledgement is a beginning.

Made By: Kawartha Lakes is being created in Lindsay to serve communities throughout what is now the City of Kawartha Lakes.

Across this region, we are on the traditional homelands of the Michi Saagiig Anishinaabeg, also known as the Mississauga peoples. These lands and waters are within the territory covered by the Williams Treaties, and much of present-day Kawartha Lakes is also connected to Treaty 20.

We also recognize the ancestral presence of the Huron-Wendat, whose communities established agricultural settlements in this region and whose history remains present in its archaeological record.

Indigenous peoples have lived in relationship with these lands and waters for thousands of years. First Nations, Métis and Inuit people continue to live here and remain essential to the life, knowledge and culture of this region.

For Made By, acknowledgement must influence how we research, collect, interpret, care for belongings, share knowledge and determine who has the authority to tell a story. It is not a substitute for relationship, accountability or action.

This is a working acknowledgement. Made By is beginning the Indigenous review and relationship-building needed to strengthen it, and we will revise this page as that work continues.

What acknowledgement requires of us.

Made By’s responsibilities must be visible in how the organization works. As our policies, collections, exhibitions and programs develop, we commit to:

  • building sustained relationships with Indigenous Nations, communities and residents—not approaching people only when we need information;
  • seeking Indigenous guidance and participation before interpreting Indigenous histories, cultures or knowledge;
  • recognizing that Indigenous peoples hold authority over their own stories, and that some knowledge is not ours to collect, display or share;
  • crediting and fairly compensating Indigenous knowledge-holders, artists, researchers and advisors;
  • representing Indigenous peoples as living and contemporary, not only through histories of colonization and harm;
  • creating clear processes for correction, culturally appropriate care, restricted access, return and repatriation; and
  • acknowledging errors openly and revising our work when greater knowledge or better guidance becomes available.

These commitments will be translated into policy and practice as Made By develops. We will report on that work here rather than treating acknowledgement as a completed statement.

Learn more.

Acknowledgement should lead to learning. These resources offer starting points for understanding the Nations, treaty relationships and histories connected to this region:

These links are starting points, not substitutes for relationships with Indigenous peoples and communities. Made By will continue adding resources created by Indigenous Nations, artists, makers and knowledge-holders as our relationships and work develop.