09/30/2026
Today, we recognize the historical and lasting impacts of colonization on Indigenous Peoples in Canada. We also acknowledge the ongoing relationship between colonial systems, health, and food insecurity, and the ways these histories continue to shape access to food, land, and well-being today.
At the Guelph Food Bank, we acknowledge that we operate on the traditional lands of the Attiwonderonk and the Haudenosaunee. This land is held as the treaty lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.
In our work, we take inspiration and guidance from the Dish With One Spoon, an agreement between the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabeg, and their allied nations to live peaceably and share responsibility for the lands throughout what is now known as the Great Lakes region.
For us as a food bank, the teaching of the Dish With One Spoon carries particular meaning. When we eat from a shared dish, we have a responsibility to ensure that enough remains for others who also depend upon it. It reminds us that food is not simply something we possess, but something we share, and that the well-being of each of us is connected to the well-being of our community.
We also have a responsibility to the dish itself. The dish represents the land and environment that sustain us, reminding us that our relationship with the earth cannot be one-way. If we expect the land to nourish us, we must also care for and nourish the land.
These teachings speak directly to the kind of community we want to help cultivate: one where we take what we need while ensuring there is enough for others; where we care for the land that sustains us; and where food brings people together rather than divides them.
By caring for the dish, sharing what it provides, and ensuring that no one is left without, we can help cultivate a community in which people can eat well, care for one another, and live together in peace.
