The Laidlaw Foundation has officially taken up residence at Foundation House – a new hub for philanthropic collaboration, learning and sharing in Toronto. As one of three founding partners, along with the Lawson Foundation and the Counselling Foundation of Canada, the Laidlaw Foundation is excited by the potential of Foundation House to spark greater collaboration in the philanthropic and charitable sector.

And the idea is taking off with a stellar group of organizations joining us at Foundation House including the Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling (CERIC), the Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN) and the Environment Funders Canada (EFC). Philanthropic Foundations Canada (PFC), Community Foundations of Canada (CFC), The Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada, and GrantBook also have a presence at Foundation House. We recently published a case study about the making of Foundation House. Part of this was to catalogue how we came together and what we were trying to achieve; in addition, there are some suggestions about the kinds of things we might look for as signs of success over time.

Land Acknowledgement

Laidlaw Foundation would like to honour the land that we are on, which has been the site of human activity since time immemorial. It is the traditional territories of the Huron-Wendat, Anishinabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Mississaugas of the Credit River First Nations. Ontario is covered by 46 treaties and other agreements and is home to many Indigenous Nations from across Turtle Island, including the Inuit and the Metis. These treaties and other agreements, including the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, are agreements to peaceably share and care for the land and its resources. Other Indigenous Nations, Europeans, and newcomers were invited into this covenant in the spirit of respect, peace, and friendship. We are mindful of broken covenants and we strive to make this right, with the land and with each other. We are all Treaty people. Many of us have come here as settlers, immigrants, and newcomers, like members of the Laidlaw community, especially the young people the Foundation’s granting programs support. We would like to also acknowledge those of us who came here forcibly, particularly as a result of the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade. Therefore, we honour and pay tribute to the ancestors of African Origin and Descent.

Commitment to Reconciliation

Our work is grounded in the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Along with a number of other philanthropic foundations and grant-makers, we have signed the Philanthropic Community’s Declaration of Action, to declare our commitment to ensuring that positive action on reconciliation continues through our philanthropy and related work.