Shake Up The Establishment (SUTE) is a national registered not-for-profit organization (#1190975-4) that is dedicated to advancing intersectional environmental and climate justice across the lands currently known as Canada. We recognize that these lands are stewarded by diverse Indigenous Nations whose laws, governance systems and relationships to the land pre-date the authority of the Canadian state.
SUTE was co-founded by youth from Indigenous, South Asian and European Settler backgrounds who came together with a shared recognition that environmental, climate and social justice must be advanced through intercultural, interracial and intergenerational collaboration and solidarity. We understood that environmental harm is shaped by colonialism, racial capitalism and other intersecting systems of power, and that transformative solutions require working across differences while remaining accountable to Indigenous sovereignty.
Our organization was founded and registered on lands stewarded by the Attawandaron (Neutral), Erie, Haudenosaunee and Mississaugas Peoples, within historic and ongoing treaty and covenant relationships, including the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant and the Between the Lakes Purchase (Treaty 3, 1792). We recognize that many Indigenous Nations were forcibly displaced from these territories through colonial violence, and that these treaty relationships remain living and binding. We acknowledge that settler colonialism is not a past event but an ongoing structure that continues to shape land dispossession, environmental degradation, and political exclusion.
We move beyond acknowledgement toward responsibility by building sustained relationships with frontline Indigenous land defenders and communities, amplifying their calls to action, and supporting Indigenous-led efforts to protect lands and waters. We advocate for policies that uphold treaty rights, Indigenous self-determination and the right to a healthy environment, and we seek to align our campaigns with community-identified priorities.
We understand the climate crisis as inseparable from colonialism, racism, patriarchy, ableism and economic inequality. We are committed to advancing solutions that redistribute power and resources toward those most impacted, particularly Indigenous, Black, and other racialized communities who have long led environmental justice movements despite systemic exclusion.
We strive to cultivate movements rooted in care, rest, joy and collective imagination, especially for Indigenous and racialized youth, women and gender-diverse people, low-income communities, neurodiverse, and disabled people. We encourage all who engage with our work to reflect on their relationships to the lands they inhabit, to honour treaty responsibilities, and to act in sustained and materially supportive solidarity with Indigenous Peoples.