Our Commitment to Decolonisation

Settler Colonialism in 'Canada'

Our present work is highly influenced by the legacies of colonialism.
The geography now called 'Canada' has a long and violent history of colonialism and systemic discrimination against Indigenous communities. Settler colonial policies and practices such as the Indian Act, residential schools, and countless other acts of harm, were used to carry out systemic ethnic cleansing, assimilation, and forced removal of Indigenous communities from their lands (read the Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada here). To this day, there has been no meaningful reconciliation and atonement for colonial theft and violence. Dismantling systems of oppression and colonial structures requires meaningful acknowledgement of the experiences of Indigenous Peoples, meaningful reparations, and purposeful integration of their rights and freedoms in ways that account for perpetuated inequities.

Indigenization and Allyship Within our Work

Dismantling structures of colonialism and the path to a just future requires disrupting the status quo and including Indigenous worldviews in the ways we work towards sustainability in all spheres of influence. It is crucial to understand how the framings of research and the work we produce are tied to our privileged position in an unjust world. Making space for Indigenous perspectives and strategies within corporate and business sustainability is critical as a just transition cannot be achieved in a settler colonial future. Acknowledging that much of our world is underpinned by Western notions of systems thinking, we are increasingly working to understand, incorporate, and prioritise Indigenous worldviews and cosmologies into the content we produce.

As an interpreter of many voices, we hold the responsibility to confront our own biases and complicity within current systems and to use every opportunity to challenge these issues in meaningful ways. We strive to be in good and right relations with the Indigenous communities whose lands we occupy and impact and acknowledge their Sovereignty over their traditional lands. We recognize that purposeful allyship requires ongoing learning, reflection, and aligning of our work with Indigenous knowledge in sustainability.

Recognising the Territory Where We Work

Our global headquarters are located on the traditional, ancestral, and stolen lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), q̓íc̓əy̓ (Katzie), kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), Qayqayt, Kwantlen, Semiahmoo, Tsawwassen, and S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō) peoples. We respectfully acknowledge and support their Sovereignty and their role as the longstanding and rightful stewards of this land.

We recognize and respect that since time immemorial, this land that we now call ‘Canada’ has been, and continues to be, an integral place of learning, culture, history, and tradition for many Indigenous communities. Territory awareness and acknowledgement is a crucial step in understanding how colonial history and its ongoing processes shape our interactions with the land and confronting our place within the path towards Indigenization and Reconciliation. It is our responsibility to be in right relationship with Indigenous communities on whose lands we operate and to contribute to upholding long-term sustainability in ways that align with Indigenous sovereignty.

To learn about Indigenous territories where you reside, visit Native Land Digital.