Pan Am Games follows First Nations protocol

AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde, Regional Chief Day & other leadership at Three Fires Ceremony Pan Am Games (Twitter Photo)

"When visiting indigenous territory that isn't your own, the protocol is to acknowledge whose territory you are on and thank them for allowing you there. If done properly, they welcome you in return," explained an CBC News article on the opening of the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto, Canada this week.

This year’s torch relay was received by Chief LaForme of Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto.

Using sacred tradition the Mississaugas of the New Credit held a Three Fires Ceremony on three sites that day to start the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games, marking the fact that the 16 sites of the games are in its traditional lands that extend south to Long Point on Lake Erie, east to the Niagara River and River Rouge and west to the River Thames.

The three fire locations are: The Toronto Islands, the modern Mississaugas of the New Credit territory and Fort York.

The fires being symbolic of the Mississaugas traditional and political alliance with the Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi Nations, they will be kept burning until the end of the Pan Am Games.

July 10: This year’s torch relay was received by Chief LaForme of Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. (Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation )