Raffi Foundation for Child Honouring is located on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Coast Salish people, specifically the Hul’qumi’num and SENĆOŦEN speaking peoples.
Hul’qumi’num-speaking people, including: Penelakut Tribe, Quw’utsun Tribes, Lyackson First Nation, Halalt First Nation, Tsawwassen First Nation, Pauquachin First Nation, and Malahat First Nations
SENĆOŦEN-speaking people, including: Tsawout, Tsartlip, Tseycum First Nations, as well as the Pauquachin and Malahat First Nations
There are many more Hul’qumi’num and SENĆOŦEN speaking Nations and peoples, but these are the Nations whose territory includes parts of Salt Spring Island.
We also acknowledge that our work reaches across many First Nation territories, Metis Homelands and Inuit Nunangat.
Our shared history includes residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, Indian hospitals, and the intergenerational trauma that followed. These have deep, ongoing impacts on parents, children, educators, and generations still to come. So, this acknowledgement is one small part of an ongoing commitment.
The Raffi Foundation team is committed to doing the personal and organizational work to address historic and ongoing injustices, to work with Indigenous communities and to prioritize mindful relationship-building, curiosity, and meaningful action.
We have worked in collaboration with Ada Mawson, a First Nations Knowledge Keeper and the Tsawout Education Manager, to review our workshops and to explore the connection between Child Honouring principles and Coast Salish teachings. We are grateful to Ada Mawson for her time and for so generously sharing her knowledge with us.
