About & Protocols
Our story, our limits, and how to use this tool with care.
About Open In a Good Way
When we pause, notice our bodies, and acknowledge the land and peoples who hold us, something shifts. A meeting, a class, a circle, can feel different when we open it with care. That's what this app is for.
This is a small helper. It's a bridge for moments when Elders and Knowledge Holders aren't available, or when people are still learning how to open in a good way. It's not here to replace relationship, ceremony, or the authority of Indigenous peoples and their teachings, and it shouldn't be treated as the final word over local guidance.
Dedication
This small tool is dedicated to the people of Room 501.
I was moved by the way you showed up for one another, the honesty you brought into the room, and the care you took with your words and silence.
The way we worked together in that space, listening and grounding and finding our way forward, helped inspire this offering.
Maarsii to each of you for reminding me what it can look like to gather in a good way.
Walking alongside Elders and Open In a Good Way
This app isn't a replacement for Elders, Knowledge Holders, or local ceremony. It's a small bridge for moments when those supports aren't available, or when you're still finding your way.
You might use this app:
- • When no Elder is present and you still want to open with respect
- • To help you prepare your heart and words before inviting an Elder or Knowledge Holder
- • As a learning tool while you build real relationships with local communities over time
If there's ever a conflict between this tool and local teachings or protocol, follow local teachings. This is a starting point, not a destination.
If you have relationships with local Elders or Knowledge Holders, follow their guidance first. Where it's possible, consider offering honouraria, gifts, or support in line with local practice.
Traditional medicines in opening
In many communities, opening in a good way includes turning to traditional medicines. Four that are widely known on this land are cedar, tobacco, sage, and sweetgrass. Each carries its own teachings, and how they're used varies from Nation to Nation, family to family, and person to person.
Cedar is often used for protection and cleansing. People may hang cedar boughs in doorways, boil cedar for tea under guidance, or use cedar brushing, where a person is gently brushed with cedar to help clear heavy energy and invite strength. Tobacco, in many places, is offered when asking for help, teachings, or prayers. It can be given to Elders or placed on the earth as a way of speaking with respect and intention.
Sage is often burned for cleansing and grounding, helping people let go of what they don't need to carry into a circle or ceremony. Sweetgrass is sometimes called a kindness medicine; when braided and burned or brushed, it's associated with inviting in good energy, gratitude, and connection. These are only broad patterns, not rules, and the deeper teachings belong with the Nations and Knowledge Holders they come from.
Not all First Nations, Métis, or Inuit peoples smudge, and not every Nation uses these four medicines. Some communities have other medicines, or specific ways of working with water, fire, or local plants. When in doubt, follow local guidance. Ask what's appropriate, and honour the particular medicines and practices of the community you're with.
This is context, not instruction. The proper use of these medicines belongs with the Nations and Knowledge Holders they come from.
Safety and care
This tool's an invitation, not a requirement. You can shorten, skip, or change any part so it fits you and your group.
If something feels like too much, it's okay to pause, breathe, or step away and come back. You know your body and your people best.
This is about creating enough safety and grounding for us to gather — not about doing anything perfectly. You don't have to get it right for Creator and the land to meet you where you are.
Your voice, your choice, your pace. This app's here to support you, not to push you.
How this app uses AI
Open In a Good Way uses an AI text tool to help you draft openings, closings, reflections, and land-related wording. It works by predicting text based on patterns in a large amount of writing from the internet and other digital sources, most of which come from a colonial, Euro-Western world.
That means:
- • Indigenous voices, languages, and protocols aren't represented fairly or fully in the data.
- • The AI can repeat colonial ideas, flatten differences between distinct First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples, or get things wrong about land, history, and culture.
Because of this, we treat the AI as a small helper, not an authority:
- • It doesn't create or replace Indigenous ceremonies, prayers, protocols, or Elder teachings.
- • It only offers draft wording and structures, which you're expected to change so they fit your voice, community, and local guidance.
- • Wherever there's tension between what this app suggests and what local Nations, Elders, Knowledge Holders, or community leaders say, their guidance comes first.
You're invited to use this tool critically:
- • Question its suggestions.
- • Rewrite them in your own words.
- • Check any land or cultural references with local resources whenever possible.
About Matthew
Open in a Good Way was created by Matthew Dyck, a writer, facilitator, and thought‑worker who has spent the last decade walking with people through hard stories, workplace harm, and questions of identity and culture. In that work, openings and land acknowledgements have become one of the places he keeps returning to, as everyday moments where care and accountability can either grow or shut down. He lives on the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil‑Waututh Nations in Vancouver, BC.
He's a Métis citizen of the Métis Nation of Alberta, with maternal family ancestry connected to Cree, Nakoda, and Treaty 6 family histories; Matthew is actively researching these connections with relevant communities.
Matthew also developed the MISA Framework and produced First Stories: Tales from Turtle Island, a podcast dedicated to Indigenous stories and voices. Across these projects, his focus is the same: to offer simple, practical helpers that support people and organizations to pause, remember their relationships, and open gatherings with more intention, respect, and heart.
Data, consent, and cultural respect
The prayers, openings, and land acknowledgements you create here are yours. This tool's here to support your voice, not take ownership of it.
If you choose to share phrases or teachings from your community, only share what you have clear permission to share. Sacred, private, or restricted teachings belong with the people and places they come from, not inside an app.
When community contributions are shared, we name the Nation, community, or language as clearly as we can. We don't claim or remix these teachings as our own.
We handle what you share with care. This tool isn't meant to collect or control Indigenous knowledge. It's a small helper for people preparing their own openings.