Comuna has the great privilege to be naturalized and seeded in the city of Montreal, located on the traditional and un-ceded territory of the Kanien’kehà:ka Nation, known in English as the Mohawk Nation. The people of the Kanienkéha:ka Nation continue to be the original stewards of the land that makes up the City of Montreal and the waters that surround it, which has the name of Tiohtià:ke in Kanien’kéha, and Mooniyang in Anishinaabemowin.

This land has served as an important site of meeting, exchange, conflict and peace amongst many First Nations including the Kanien’kehá:ka of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Huron/Wendat, Abenaki, and Anishinaabeg. It’s a place that carries a complicated, layered and deeply rich history spanning over eight thousand years, of which the Kanienkéha:ka Nation have been in continued relationship and kinship with this land. In the short time frame of a few hundred years since Europeans arrived here and began a process of land seizures through the use of settler colonialism to establish the creation of what is modern-day Quebec and Canada, the First Nations of these lands experienced forced removal, assimilation, and genocide. The process of colonization intentionally denied First Nations access to their land – a birthright and ancestral inheritance – which fundamentally shapes their identity, culture, communities, and spirituality.

The St.Lawrence River is what’s made Montreal into what it is today – a vibrant, diverse, and creative Port city that continues to be a meeting place of cross-cultural exchange for a diversity of people from around the world. Comuna recognizes and honours the rich history of the Kanien’kehà:ka Nation and the Indigenous Peoples in Canada as we do our work of building bridges that bring people together from diverse backgrounds, cultures and nations.

We invite you to consider learning more about this land acknowledgement, the land on which you live or find yourself on, and the interconnected threads of history and migration that weaved together to allow for you to be standing where you are. We encourage you to use the links below as a starting point on your journey of finding out more about the history and present-day realities of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, and around the globe.

• Identifying the Native land you are on: Native Land Map

• Land Territory Acknowledgement: Native Land Territory Acknowledgement

• Guide to Indigenous Land Acknowledgement: Native Governance Centre Guide

• History of Kahnawá:ke: Kahnawake History

• Native Friendship Centre of Montreal: NFCM

• Public Inquiry Commission on relations between Indigenous Peoples and certain public services in Québec: listening, reconciliation and progress: Final Report

• National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Report: Final Report

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls To Action