Indigenous and westerns belief systems with regards to land are so fundamentally different they are essentially opposites of each other. Bishop Krystyna, in her book “This Land Knows Me: Indigenous Land Rights,” summarises that crucial difference: “In North America, the rhetoric of indigenous peoples is the same: we were put on this Land by the creator and we, are responsible for its stewardship. Many indigenous groups refer to their unique relationship with their particular traditional territory as 'I belong to this land,' instead of the classic Western articulation, 'this land belongs to me' The statement is political and emotional, and philosophical. It is the foundation of the indigenous worldview and informs the traditional way of life in its entirety.” The underlying philosophical difference between the two is western constructs define land in terms of ownership status, whereas the Indigenous counterpart focuses on a more spiritual stewardship. Instead of simple ownership, many Indigenous peoples see their relationship with the land as one of reciprocity and respect–the land sustains and provides for the people, and the people sustain and manage the land through culture and ceremony.
Here is a Youtube video from the Indigenous Leadership Initiative channel called “Honouring the Land,” that further explains the relationship many Indigenous people have with the land, created by an organisation driven by a group of young, Indigenous women.