Land Acknowledgement

 

Westben is nestled amongst the gently rolling hills of the Gunshot Treaty lands and subsequent Williams Treaties of 1923, and the traditional territory of the Michi Saagiig (Mississauga) Anishinaabeg near what is now known as Campbellford, Ontario.

This area today includes neighbouring Alderville, Hiawatha, and Curve Lake First Nations—thriving communities with cultural roots of music-making spanning thousands of years! If you would like to learn more about the Indigenous history around where Westben resides, we recommend clicking on the links of these nations above and reading: Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg: The History by Doug Williams and edited by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Alderville First Nation... A History by Brian Beaver and the Village of Hiawatha: A History by Heather Y. Shpuniarsky and the Village of Hiawatha Book Committee.

Our music-making at Westben is therefore in grateful recognition and appreciation of our Michi Saagiig friends whose music has filled these lands for generations.