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The Toronto Burlesque Festival has the privilege of gathering, working, and creating on the traditional unceded lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit, Anishinaabeg, the Chippewa, The Haudenosaunee and the Wendat - people who have inhabited and cared for these lands for hundreds of years before “Canada” was founded. They are the traditional keepers of this land and its stories, before it was violently stolen and colonized.
The interim board members of the Toronto Burlesque Festival come from many varied backgrounds as settlers on this land. Some of the guiding questions throughout our recent anti-oppressive training have included how we can deepen our understanding of what it means to be of settler origin living in Canada and how can we more deeply commit to anti-racist practices that honour the contributions of BIPOC artists (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) throughout within our local performance community. We acknowledge that we are all Treaty People and that the work of reconciliation is our collective responsibility and that work is far from done.
As guests on this land with the good fortune of living and working in Tkaronto, the place in the water where the trees are standing, we have a duty to amplify indigenous voices, to support indigenous initiatives, and to hold our government accountable, especially to the 94 calls to action, of which, only 13 have been completed since their inception in 2015.
We encourage our community to visit native-land.ca to read up on the truth behind Canada’s history, and the ways we can better support Indigenous folx, and actively work to decolonize ourselves, and our communities, and reflect on how each one of us can play our part to help create a future that we all can be proud of - one that supports and fosters truth and reconciliation all year round.