Acknowledgements

DSS Land Acknowledgement;
Commitment to Indigenous social justice

The mandate of Dignity Seniors Society (DSS) is to support 2SLGBTQIA+ seniors across the territories of British Columbia, and being such, we acknowledge that we are visiting and operating on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of all British Columbia’s Indigenous peoples.

Further to this, DSS recognizes the cultural genocide inflicted on B.C.’s Indigenous peoples through colonial systems of rule and domination. Specifically, how the religious impacts of colonial rule decimated many cultural aspects of Two Spirit peoples in B.C.

DSS recognizes the need for a significant connection with Indigenous peoples and communities so that Indigenous perspectives and knowledge are inherent within the work of DSS in BC.

DSS actively encourages self-identified Indigenous individuals to join our board of directors and our volunteer and staff team to support our work with 2S and Indigenous communities.  

The term Indigenous is used intentionally, as literature indicates it is a term that is inclusive of Aboriginal or First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples of Canada. Indigenous Peoples is generally used in an international context.

DSS places 2S at the beginning of LGBTQIA+ to acknowledge the importance of the Two-Spirit members of our community during the ongoing process of reconciliation in Canada.

DSS asks all directors and volunteers to commit to learning about the history of residential schools and the continuing effects of colonization on the Indigenous peoples of Canada, and the country as a whole.

We use 2S as an umbrella term inclusive of all 2SLGBTQIA+ Indigenous and Indiqueer people.