Mississippi Mills All My Relations is a community-based Truth and Reconciliation organization whose mission is to help restore what was once a relationship of trust and friendship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in our country.
We are located on the west side of the watershed of the Ottawa River, the traditional unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Omamiwinni, that is the Algonquin Anishinaabe. In Algonquin the river is called Kichi Sibi which means “great river.”
The Algonquins have inhabited and have cared for these lands for thousands of years and continue to care for them today. We are grateful to them, and for this beautiful land and for all that it provides us: trees to give shade, water and food to sustain us.
For the past several hundred years we as a society have been oblivious of the harm our people has caused to both the Indigenous people and to this land and we confess we have destroyed the original trust that once existed between us. We seek then to do what we can to grow in our understanding of the truth our history and to renew friendships with them and also with the Metis and Inuit people who live here in our community as well and to invite others to share in this journey with us.
The Seven Gifts was a project where we sought to model reconciliation. The process of creating it was a cooperative one between an Indigenous and non-Indigenous artist supported by MMAMR to reflect the nature of the Truth and Reconciliation process.
