Open Doors
Legal Services

Recognizing this territory is an ethical gesture, our responsibility, and another form of justice. Open Doors Legal Services operates on land that was never empty, land that has been a home for many nations for millennia, including the Anishinaabek, Wendat, and Haudenosaunee. Land that, according to some stories, was occupied through mutual agreement; land that, in reality, was occupied through deception, dispossession, forced displacement, and genocide. Land that, according to international law, were considered to be empty because they were not owned by anyone, because the relationship with this land had never been conceptualized in terms of property or dominion. Land is much more than the biological surface on which we build and live. Land has to do with relationships, heritage, identity, with our belonging, and with who we value. It is related to memory and connection, tradition, and evolution. For many, the question “Where are you really from?” conjures up the painful legacy of forced displacement and migration, reminding us that, for many, home is a complex concept, often contentious. Many of us never stop being seen as foreign or “othered”. We must remember that colonialism robbed us of so much more than land, including people, cultures, histories, and heritage. As a result of colonialism, those stolen people, cultures, histories, and heritage were rewritten, fundamentally changing the way we relate to the land, to ourselves, and to each other. Much of what we now consider to be normal was built to oppress and dehumanize. The language that allows us to communicate often perpetuates power dynamics rooted in colonial and contemporary histories of domination, inequality, and erasure. History, like language, is never neutral, and is always written by an author. We must not forget that the institutions through which we seek to question and defy colonial thinking are complicit in maintaining and perpetuating land dispossession, here and elsewhere. Colonialism is not a relic of the past; it is omnipresent in our lives. When we express our gratitude for the opportunity to live on and learn from this land, we also recognize the histories of displacement that have shaped and determined the presence of many of us who now consider this place our home. This gratitude often coexists with a deep understanding of the painful realities that have paved the way for these experiences of gratitude. Gratitude should not be our destination, but rather our starting point to reflect on our responsibilities to this land and its people, and to our own development projects. When we speak of human rights, let us not forget that our responsibility is not just to demand they are recognized, but to respect them ourselves in a humane way. Finally, let us remember that indigenous history is also world history. African and Black history are also world history. LGBTQ history is also world history. Latinx history are world history. We must not forget this. Open Doors Legal Services operates on land that was never empty, land that has been a home for many nations for millennia, including the Anishinaabek, Wendat, and Haudenosaunee. Land that, according to some stories, was occupied through mutual agreement; land that, in reality, was occupied through deception, dispossession, forced displacement, and genocide. Land that, according to international law, were considered to be empty because they were owned by no one, because the relationship with this land had never been conceptualized in terms of property or dominion. Land is much more than the biological surface on which we build and live. Land has to do with relationships, heritage, identity, with our belonging, and with who we value. It is related to memory and connection, tradition, and evolution. For many, the question “Where are you really from?” conjures up the painful legacy of forced displacement and migration, reminding us that, for many, home is a complex concept, often contentious. Many of us never stop being seen as foreign or “othered”. We must remember that colonialism robbed us of so much more than land, including people, cultures, history, and heritage. As a result of colonialism, those stolen people, cultures, histories, and heritage were rewritten, fundamentally changing the way we relate to the land, to ourselves, and to each other. Much of what we now consider to be normal was built to oppress and dehumanize. The language that allows us to communicate often perpetuates power dynamics rooted in colonial and contemporary histories of domination, inequality, and erasure. History, like language, is never neutral, and is always written by an author. We must not forget that the institutions through which we seek to question and defy colonial thinking are complicit in maintaining and perpetuating land dispossession, here and elsewhere. Colonialism is not a relic of the past; it is omnipresent in our lives. When we express our gratitude for the opportunity to live on and learn from this land, we also recognize the histories of displacement that have shaped and determined the presence of many of us who now consider this place our home. This gratitude often coexists with a deep understanding of the painful realities that have paved the way for these experiences of gratitude. Gratitude should not be our destination, but rather our starting point to reflect on our responsibilities to this land and its people, and to our own development projects. When we speak of human rights, let us not forget that our responsibility is not just to demand they are recognized, but to respect them ourselves in a humane way. Finally, let us remember that indigenous history is also world history. African and Black history are also world history. LGBTQ history is also world history. Latinx history are world history. We must not forget this.