Land acknowledgment
The Belonging Network’s head office is located on the ancestral, traditional, and unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. Our staff live and work on the traditional, ancestral lands of Indigenous nations throughout British Columbia. We are committed to listening, learning, and participating in truth and reconciliation.
In solidarity with Indigenous peoples
Every child who experiences life should grow up to know what love means for each of us: security, safety, connection and oneness. Love is the foundation of who we are.
Chief Joseph George, Namwayut: We Are All One: A Pathway to Reconciliation
At the Belonging Network, we stand witness to the harm inflicted on Indigenous peoples whose children have been taken from them through the residential school system, the Sixties Scoop, and the modern child welfare system. The impacts of separating generations of Indigenous children from their families, cultures, and communities are still deeply felt today.
Our commitments to Truth & Reconciliation
We will keep doing our part to support the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action 1 to 5. These actions call upon the child welfare sector to repair the inflicted harm and change systems to keep more Indigenous children with Indigenous families.
We will continue to listen and learn from Indigenous peoples so that we can understand the best ways for us to contribute to truth and reconciliation.
We will keep learning about Indigenous history and perspectives to inform our work. Every employee and Board member at the Belonging Network takes a foundational course in Indigenous history and perspectives. Each of us then continues our learning in a way that’s relevant to our specific roles. We are especially grateful to the Indigenous Perspectives Society for their partnership, training, advice, and encouragement.
We strive to make our organization a welcoming place for Indigenous people. This includes participants in our programs and services, employees, members of our Board and advisory groups, consultants, contractors, and suppliers.
We strive to ensure all program development is informed by Indigenous consultants and advisors, including new programs requested by and designed for Indigenous participants. We are deeply grateful for the friendship and trust of the Indigenous communities, organizations and people who choose to work with us and guide our steps.
We will keep honouring the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples over their children’s welfare. One way we’ll do this is to emphasize the importance for all Indigenous children and youth to have strong connections to their cultures and communities.
We recognize the power of our platform to reach a broad adoptive and permanency community, and our responsibility to communicate the Belonging Network’s support for the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples over their children’s welfare.
To hold ourselves accountable to these commitments, we share our progress at each Board of Directors meeting and organization-wide staff meeting.
