We, the Mandala team, acknowledge that we live and work on Treaty 7 territory, the traditional and ancestral lands of the Blackfoot Confederacy, including the Siksikaitsitapi, as well as the Tsuut’ina Nation and the Stoney Nakoda Nations. This is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3.

For me personally, as someone born and raised in Canada in an Indian immigrant family, my relationship with this land is shaped by both my Canadian upbringing and my family’s journey. My parents came to Canada seeking opportunities, stability, and a better future, and their sacrifices helped create the life and sense of belonging that I have today. I am grateful for the opportunities this land has provided my family, while recognizing that we arrived into a place with longstanding Indigenous histories, cultures, and relationships that existed long before us.

My family’s experience of migration is different from the experiences of the First Peoples of this land. I offer this acknowledgement as an opportunity to honour those histories, reflect on my own responsibilities, and approach this land and its communities with respect, humility, and gratitude.