Treaty 6 Territory and Homeland of the Métis

As part of our commitment to honouring Indigenous ways of knowing and being — central to both the University of Saskatchewan’s institutional values and the principles guiding our conference — the PAWSitive Connections Lab has actively engaged in ceremony from the outset of our planning.

Under the guidance of the former Buffalo Reconciliation Circle at USask, our Lab has respectfully grown tobacco for ceremonial offering. We have also begun spiritual preparations for the conference, led by Indigenous Knowledge Keeper Larry LaLiberte (KA WA CI PI). These ceremonies have included prayer and Four Directions cloth offerings, intended to provide grounding, guidance, and spiritual integrity to all aspects of the event. This is not symbolic—it is foundational, shaping how we approach the planning work, our relationships, and the space we are creating for attendees.

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When we refer to "Treaty 6 Territory," it is an acknowledgement of the land - often formally spoken to at the beginning of a gathering - to share awareness on land history, traditional territories, and Indigenous people, and to express gratitude for the land in which we occupy. A territorial or land acknowledgement is an act of reconciliation that involves making a statement recognizing the traditional territory of the Indigenous people who called the land home before the arrival of settlers, and in many cases still do call it home. Further, the Métis are one of Saskatchewan’s founding people and have contributed to Saskatchewan’s social, cultural, economic and political fabric. Métis settlement in what is now Saskatchewan predated the development of an agrarian society by over 100 years.