
All my relations. We live in physical, spiritual, and sacred spaces across turtle island, and we live in the knowledge that everything is connected. We are connected to past, present, and future happenings, and to our ancestors through land, language, and culture. We are connected to our local communities in their present states. We connect to the future through new relationships between communities, knowledge keepers, universities, and students of language. We gather in conversation as Indigenous people, language speakers and learners, established and emerging language scholars and educators, mentors and mentees, and non-Indigenous people, researchers, educators, and graduate students, and we see the interconnectedness of ourselves, our ideas, our biases, and our creativity. Pursuing this work together will require deep questioning and reflection from non-Indigenous partners. Questioning colonial understandings of relationships, time, and community. Reflecting on what it means to build personal relationships, non-extractive relationships. Normalizing taking time to build relationships with those we journey beside. Our land is connected from ocean, to prairie, to mountain, and to sea. We are connected by rivers and waterways and all peoples along the way living in rural lands and urban cities, we gather with you and for you to journey together toward Indigenous Language Revitalization. We are all connected. All my relations.