Project Description

Territorial acknowledgement has been taking up its rightful place since the release of the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s (TRC) report. I was surprised to learn that, for some Indigenous Peoples, acknowledgement of land had been practised long before contact. While land acknowledgements are not directly called for in the TRC’s call to actions, this practice has emerged in the climate of reconciliation. How I have come to understand them is that they serve to recognize the lands, the knowledge and the rights of Indigenous Peoples whose lands we live and, therefore, the collective responsibilities tied to this acknowledgement. Typically, land acknowledgements are a scripted statement that opens a public event. It can also be found on institutional websites, billboards in public spaces, or email signatures. Within an academic setting, it ranges from convocation to general faculty council meetings. Alongside recognition of their potential, concerns have been raised within and outside of academia regarding the performative nature of how land acknowledgements are often carried out. Some of the concerns point to the lack of demonstrable actions, such as concrete and sustainable actions of structural and systemic changes that benefit and include the lives and lands of Indigenous Peoples.