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Happy Thanksgiving!

October 9, 2015 by Annemarie Shrouder Leave a Comment

Last night I was at a dinner at the University of Toronto’s Hart House, hosted by the Centre for International Experience and First Nations House. It was a lovely meal.

Here is some food for thought.

The Great Hall has portraits all around the room of Hart House wardens, and university chancellors and governors – all white, all male (except for one), all “older”.

We were reminded that the University of Toronto sits on traditional Aboriginal/First Nations land. To which I wonder: why when there are events do we mention who’s land the venue sits on, as if ALL of the land in this country (and continent) didn’t once belong to the First Nations, Aboriginal, or Inuit? How would things be different if we acknowledged that all the time as we walked through our day? How might we be different?

The Elder who blessed the meal told us about the 4 kingdoms: Four-legged, bird, plant, and insect. He reminded us specifically to give thanks to the bird kingdom since we were about to have turkey for dinner (he forgot to mention the buffalo meat balls). I wonder how much more present we would be to our food if we did that every time we sat down to eat?

Happy Thanksgiving if you’re celebrating this weekend.

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Copyright 2015 Annemarie Shrouder
Speaker, Author and Facilitator on issues of Diversity & Inclusion
www.annemarieshrouder.com

Radio Show Host – Creating Families
www.creatingfamiliesradio.com

Filed Under: Aboriginal, Thanksgiving Tagged With: Hart House, University of Toronto

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