SHIMMERING WATER COUNCIL (ONTARIO)

AGREEMENT

I fully support upholding our inherent birthrights and responsibilities as original people(s). This includes acknowledging our diverse lived experiences and practicing our cultural traditions to the best of our abilities, while also respecting each other's diverse identities and ways of life. I'm committed to engaging with and stewarding our ancestral lands in a way that honors Mother Earth as a living, breathing entity. I will strive to ensure that my decisions and behaviors honor our interconnectedness as relatives in creation, recognizing that our actions impact not only myself and our community but also future generations.

I fully support our birthright to express our identities, cultural practices, and spiritualities in ways that honor our right to self-determination and self-governance, which have been passed down through our ancestral connections intergenerationally.

I recognize the Ontario Coalition of Indigenous People(s) (OCIP) and its National Affiliate, the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) as a separate and self-governing entity from the restrictions of the Indian Act and all other oppressive, racist and sexist legislation meant to assimilate and oppress Indigenous peoples. I understand it will take generations to recover from the impacts of colonization.

I believe in a respectful process for creating peace and working toward a new relationship of conciliation. It involves efforts to bring about mutual agreement or harmony, often through dialogue, negotiation, and consensus. We hope to advance the social, political and economic wellbeing of the people we represent.