Meegwetch.
I accept the responsibility and the honour of opening with a prayer.
Creator, we give thanks for this opportunity to be together as friends of this great land. We ask that you be with us, that you guide us and that you look after us so that we will look after the four-leggeds, the winged ones and the giigoonh who swim in our oceans, in our rivers and in our lakes. We ask that you be kind to each and every one. We come with respect and compassion as the first peoples of this land.
I want to say meegwetch in the four directions: Meegwetch. Meegwetch. Meegwetch. Meegwetch.