These Original Living Responsibilities represent patterns of relationship, reciprocity, and regenerative practice that have guided Indigenous peoples' interactions across territories and knowledge systems for tens of thousands of years. While the specific ceremonies, practices, and expressions vary greatly among Original Peoples’ nations and cultures worldwide, the underlying principles of proper relation, consent, and accountability reflect what many Original Peoples recognize as original instructions, foundational ways of being that predate colonial contact.

This framework does not speak for all Original Peoples or claim to represent the full diversity of Original Peoples’ knowledge systems globally. Rather, it offers relational principles grounded in kinship-based worldviews that communities from Mexico, South Africa, Canada, Australia, Chile, Turtle Island and elsewhere have collaboratively developed to guide organizations and leaders seeking to engage respectfully with Original People’s wisdom and Earth-centered ways of being.

These protocols are Original Peoples’-led and read-only for non-Indigenous people. They should not be modified, adapted, or presented as one's own expertise by non-Original Peoples’ individuals or organizations. However, Original Peoples’ communities are encouraged to adapt and transmute this framework to reflect their specific cultural contexts, protocols, and needs.

By engaging with these responsibilities, all participants commit to approaching Indigenous partnerships with humility, patience, and genuine accountability, recognizing that meaningful collaboration requires learning to move at the speed of trust and relationship rather than extractive timelines or performance metrics.