Acknowledging and Reflecting Upon the Land That We Are on and Where Our Food Comes From
The food we buy and consume is sourced from Indigenous lands worldwide. When we buy, acquire, grow, prepare, consume, or share food on McMaster’s campus, we are engaging with food on the traditional territories of the Mississauga and Haudenosaunee nations. These lands are protected by the Dish With One Spoon wampum agreement, which encourages everyone living on the lands to share and collectively maintain them and their resources, including food and water systems. Some tenets of the agreement include leaving enough resources for others and protecting the vitality and health of the land itself. These traditional territories on which McMaster resides have been co-opted and occupied by settlers, and the Dish With One Spoon covenant frequently fails to be honoured.
The Food Charter team is committed to decolonizing its research approach and to highly valuing the perspectives of Indigenous communities and individuals at McMaster. Through the Food Charter, we hope to encourage reflection upon individuals’ personal access to food and other essential goods: food sourced directly from the land, food we buy at the grocery store, food we order online, and more.
McMaster’s Indigenous Circle
The McMaster Museum of Art’s Campus Architecture Tour describes the Indigenous Circle as follows: “On the edge of the circle, you will find symbols of three Haudenosaunee wampum agreements: The Dish With One Spoon, asking people to share the resources of the land and only take what they need; the Two Row, an icon of Indigenous and settler cultures living and growing together side by side, and the Friendship between the Haudenosaunee and the settler Europeans. Plantings in the space were sourced from Six Nations of the Grand River. The area demonstrates the role nature and outdoor spaces play in teaching and learning and signifies the importance of Indigenous knowledge to the growth of the McMaster community.” The three carvings were created by Woodland Memorial in Burlington.
The circle is known as Karahakon Kateweienstha (Learning in the Forest) in Mohawk and Nibwaajkaawin Teg (Place of Wisdom) in Ojibway.
