The Earth in Sky Way Station is currently situated on the land that's currently commonly called Hamilton Ontario. This land we call Hamilton sits on the traditional territories of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee, and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. It is part of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Covenant, which was an agreement made long before colonization between the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and allied Nations to share these lands and waters, take only what is needed, and care for the dish so it would never be empty. This law was not written in books, but in the living relationships between people, animals, plants, waters, and the spirit of the land itself.

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Colonization broke those relationships. Indigenous peoples were displaced, murdered, languages and ceremonies were suppressed, and the land was stripped for profit. Forests were cut, rivers polluted, animals driven out or killed in excess. This harm continues today in the housing crisis, in poisoned air and water, in the marginalization of Indigenous peoples, and in economic systems that still treat the earth as a resource to consume rather than a living community to respect.

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Here we hold the memory that this land is alive. The escarpment is the backbone of the earth here. The lake is a living entity that sustains. The animals and plants are our neighbours and kin. The soil beneath our feet is layered with seeds, roots, and the bones of those who came before. Everything we build, eat, and drink comes from somewhere, from someone, in this web of life. May we remember to honour this.

 

Nothing is truly ours to own. We are in temporary and eternal relationship with all of life.

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At Earth in Sky we remember a human’s role as a steward of the Earth.

To steward is to act as a caretaker and guardian of the planet’s living systems, not as an owner, but as a participant in a shared home.

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In this role, humans are responsible for:

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• Protecting the health of ecosystems, waters, soils, air, and biodiversity.

• Restoring what has been damaged by human activity.

• Using resources wisely, taking only what is needed and ensuring there is enough for future generations.

• Honouring relationships with more-than-human beings plants, animals, fungi, microbes, water, air (and all beings) as kin rather than commodities.

• Passing on knowledge, practices, and stories that sustain life and reciprocity.
   

From an animist perspective, stewardship isn’t about “managing” nature, it’s about being in right relationship with it. It means listening to the needs of the land and waters, giving back in gratitude, and recognizing that humans are one strand in the larger web of life.

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Earth in Sky exists here as a guest. Our work is to live in reciprocity, to repair relationships where they’ve been broken, and to stand alongside Indigenous peoples (of all shapes and forms) in protecting the land, waters, air and spirit.

 

This space is created with a social worker’s understanding of systems and harm, and an animist’s knowing that every being has its own agency and wisdom.

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This is not a symbolic statement. It is a reminder that how we live here matters. That the land is alive and watching. That the waters remember. That every choice we make either nourishes or depletes the dish we all share.

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A Note from Enchaunti

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I acknowledge my own lineage here. My grandparents arrived as settlers, and I have inherited both the privileges and the disconnections of that history. I was raised inside systems of colonization and capitalism, and I still carry their imprints. I am not outside of these patterns. I am learning, unlearning, remembering.

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I do my best to walk with animist practices in a way that honours their roots, rather than appropriating or extracting. I know I do not always succeed. I am open to being taught, even called out, and I welcome the chance to slow down, listen, and do better.

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This is not a declaration of expertise, but of humility and care. My hope is that we can all approach this work with compassion for ourselves and each other by letting love, listening, and connection guide the way forward. 

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My commitment is to play my part in helping to keep the dish full

to the best of my ability while I am here.

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- Enchaunti Waroway