Luce Bélanger:  Land Acknowledgement 

I am Luce Bélanger, a woman of mixed origins: Algonquin and European. I was born in La Tuque, a small town in Haute-Mauricie in the province of Quebec in Canada, a space of mountains, lakes and the majestic St-Maurice River. Contact with nature, hunting, fishing and the cultivation of the land are part of my important family values.

For around twenty years, I deepened my indigenous ancestral knowledge through meaningful meetings with elders and the accompaniment of elders for intercultural harmony and respect for the environment like Grandfather Ojigkwanong William Commanda, Spiritual leader and Algonquin Elder, Abuela Margarita Nunes Spiritual leader from Mexico and member of the Indigenous Council of Elders of the Americas, Thunderchild Kenny Awasis Cree Elder from British Columbia. Their desires for the transmission of ancestral knowledge and the unification of Humanity are for me the most precious gift that was offered to me as well as the choice to ensure its continuity.

Through the Center of the 4 directions, I transmit the knowledge that has been shared with me, my life experiences and ceremonies with the aim of uniting and reconnecting humans to themselves and by the same token to all living beings that surround us on Mother Earth, without forgetting the ancestors who accompany us.