Spotted! A new campaign appearing across Toronto draws attention to the importance of land acknowledgement ahead of National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21.

Launched on June 18, “Indigenous Peoples of Tkaronto” was created by Public Inc., in partnership with the City of Toronto and the Toronto Aboriginal Support Services Council (TASSC).

More than your standard shelter ad, the campaign aims to engage Torontonians through touch and long-form copy under the bolded the words “I Acknowledge.”

On the busy streets of Toronto, the ad encourages people to stop, place their hand on the poster, and take time to read the ad.

It is the most recent phase of “Toronto for All” campaigns that aim to highlight discrimination and intolerance experienced by Indigenous populations. Other campaigns rolled out under the “Toronto for All” campaign tackle issues of anti-black racism, homelessness, Islamophobia and trans youth of colour.

According to TASSC executive director, Crystal Basi, the organization felt it was important to ensure that both Indigenous history and present day realities were taken into consideration when creating the campaign.

“The incentive to get involved was to debunk some of the myths that we see out there and try and provide a good, educational opportunity for people living in Toronto [and] people visiting Toronto to get to know what we call the real history of Toronto’s origins,” Basi said, adding that another important aspect of the campaign is for people to get to know the Indigenous communities that are currently living in Toronto.

During the development of the campaign, Basi told MiC that an elder was present, alongside youth, Inuit, Two-Spirit and Métis community representation, in order to make sure there was a well-balanced lens.

“That was, to me, the most important point – having community members provide their voices,” she said.

“Indigenous Peoples of Tkaronto” runs until July 15 in transit shelters across the city as well as on social.