Today is National Indigenous Peoples Day.
Scentuals respectfully acknowledges that we are located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) & səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations.
As a skincare and wellness company, we acknowledge that many of the ingredients used in our products are based on the wellness and healing traditions from centuries of Indigenous knowledge that have been passed on from generation to generation.
Today and forever, we honour the residential school survivors, intergenerational survivors, and the countless lives that have been taken by settler colonial violence and ongoing systemic oppression and racism.
We mourn the lives of the 215 Indigenous children lost at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, the missing and murdered Indigenous women, and the unaccounted Indigenous individuals that never returned home.
The Indian residential school system was funded by the Canadian government and administered by Christian churches. The purpose of the residential school system was to assimilate Indigenous peoples into society by stripping First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children between the ages of 4 to 16 from their homes and families. The children were forced to attend mandatory boarding schools where they were forbidden to speak their language and practice their cultural beliefs. At the residential schools, children were subjected to strict rules, inhumane treatment, and abuse.
Residential schools operated in Canada from the 1870s to the 1990s. The last residential school closed in 1996.
Over 7 generations of Indigenous peoples are impacted by intergenerational trauma. The consequences of colonialism are still very much a current issue that needs to be addressed.
We as a company and as individuals recognize that we have a lot more learning to do. We are committed to doing the work and educating ourselves about the truth. We fully support the Indigenous communities and Indigenous-led calls for truth and reconciliation.
For more information, please visit:
- Indian Residential School Survivors Society