Laidlaw Foundation acknowledges that our office is located on the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, and the Huron-Wendat peoples. These lands are governed by the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between Indigenous Nations to share and care for the land and its resources in peace and friendship.

We recognize that this territory is also covered by Treaty 13, signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit, and that Toronto continues to be home to diverse Indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island. We honour their enduring presence, knowledge, and leadership in protecting land, language, and community.

We acknowledge that the work of Laidlaw Foundation takes place across many Indigenous lands and territories throughout Ontario. We are committed to understanding the treaties and relationships that shape these lands and to acting in ways that uphold Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination.

Our commitment to reconciliation includes:

• Funding Indigenous youth and communities leading work in cultural resurgence, environmental stewardship, and self-determination.
• Embedding Indigenous leadership through the Indigenous Advisory Committee, which guides our strategy and learning.
• Using our grants and investments to return resources to Indigenous communities and economies.
• Taking responsibility for our history as a philanthropic institution rooted in settler wealth and continuing to learn how to act in right relationship.

We also acknowledge that many of us are settlers, immigrants, or descendants of people who came to this land by choice or by force, including through the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. We honour the resilience and leadership of Indigenous and Black communities and commit to confronting the ongoing legacies of colonialism and slavery.

We are all treaty people. Laidlaw Foundation’s work toward reconciliation is grounded in relationships, reciprocity, and accountability to Indigenous youth, communities, and Nations.