The Hamilton Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition’s Steering Committee would like to acknowledge the territories and lands on which many of our agencies, organizations, and members reside and work, in respect to the Indigenous Peoples who have cared for these lands and waters since time before memory.

The HAHTC met together on the traditional territories of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe and Mississaugas of the Credit. This land is covered by the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, which was an agreement between the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabek to share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes. We further acknowledge that this land is covered by the Between the Lakes Purchase, 1792, between the Crown and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. We also recognize the contributions of Metis, Inuit, Mi’kmaq and other Indigenous peoples have made, both in shaping and strengthening our communities, provinces and country as a whole.

We acknowledge and honour the missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, who experience and have suffered from violence and who were, and continue to be, so cruelly taken from their loved ones.

We acknowledge the strength and resilience of Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, family members, friends and survivors, and the communities who support them, including their central role in the ongoing fight for justice.