Written by: Mohammed Shafi

One might easily guess my faith background based on my name. Yes, I am a Muslim. And I am brown with my origins from India. However, many whom I meet have gone wrong in assuming that I speak Hindi as my primary language.

In fact, less than 50% of Indians have Hindi as their mother tongue. I am also a Tamil. You read it right. I am not saying that I just speak Tamil, the language, but I am a Tamil by ethnicity. The history of Tamil language and culture goes back by thousands of years.

In the summer of 2008, I became aware of indigenous peoples, after looking at the Totem Poles when I visited Vancouver. It was only five years later, when I moved to Brampton, that I got an opportunity to research more about them. By then, I had decided to call Canada my home.

I have to thank Neethan Shan, a fellow Tamil and then city councillor of Toronto. He encouraged us to acknowledge the indigenous land at a picnic event of a non-profit organization named Tamil Nadu Multicultural Association of Canada. After this, without knowing that there are established land acknowledgements, I actually prepared one after researching the Toronto indigenous history.