Join us this Saturday, June 17th (and June 24th), 7am-2pm at the Kitchener Market for the first of two community hubs run by Protect the Tract as a part of Tract Collective’s project “We are bound to help each other”.
These community hubs are the first in a series that are going to be activated across the Haldimand Tract. The hubs are intended to provide space for generating autonomous action by building relationships and providing resources. The vision is for residents to find alignment between their own communities’ needs and Haudenosaunee sovereignty and land stewardship.
The hub hosts a drop-in Seedbomb making tent where participants can fill clay balls with local, indigenous seeds for propagation in the Tract. This activity is a prompt for discussing strategies to counter the pressures on biodiversity and food sovereignty while producing a tool for action that is decentralized and empowering at an individual and community level. Participation in seed bomb production is on a drop-in basis during the open hours of the market.
The first weekend at the hub will be focussed on Food Security, Land Stewardship and Ecological Health. The Second weekend will be focussed on civic engagement, Haudenosaunee sovereignty and Allyship, though conversations and connections are always welcome throughout.
Beader’s from the Tract Collective’s ‘Bead the Tract’ project will be at the booth on June 17th with some of the materials developed from their project.
Tract Collective is an interdisciplinary collective of artists and activists who have come together to express and honour our connection to the Grand River. Our collective operates within the Haldimand Tract, a portion of the Haudenosaunee territory affirmed in the Beaver Hunting Grounds Treaty of 1701, the Two Row Wampum, Covenant Chain, and Dish Treaties. These treaties form our approach to collaborative and participatory decision-making processes.
The collective is guided by Haudenosaunee ways of being; our work is anti-colonial, grounded in Haudenosaunee history and futures. Activities of the collective emphasize ancestral and community knowledge in order to propose actions, community engagement strategies, and future research related to land stewardship, governance, and Indigenous-settler relations in the Haldimand Tract and the Grand River Watershed.
For CAFKA23, the Tract Collective is amplifying the work of Protect the Tract, a Haudenosaunee-led initiative that conducts research, policy development and develops capacity for civil engagement on issues facing the Tract.