What is a Land Acknowledgement

The Committee on the Status of Representation and Diversity recommends that all chairs and event conveners, as hosts of our annual meeting, make a land acknowledgement at the start of their sessions.

A Land Acknowledgment is a formal statement that recognizes and respects Indigenous Peoples as traditional stewards of this land and the enduring relationship that exists between Indigenous Peoples and their traditional territories.

Why do we recognize the land?

To recognize the land is an expression of gratitude and appreciation to those whose territory we reside on, and a way of honoring the Indigenous people who have been living and working on the land from time immemorial. It is important to understand the longstanding history that has brought we to reside on the land, and to seek to understand our place within that history. Land acknowledgments do not exist in a past tense, or outside historical context: colonialism is an ongoing process, and we need to build our mindfulness of our present participation. It is also worth noting that acknowledging the land is Indigenous protocol. For more on Land Acknowledgements, see http://www.lspirg.org/knowtheland

How We Make a Land Acknowledgement

We acknowledge that the land on which we gather is the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee and, most recently, the territory of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation. The territory was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement among the Iroquois Confederacy and the Ojibwe and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes.

This territory is also covered by the Upper Canada Treaties.

Today, the meeting place of Toronto (from the Haudenosaunee word Tkaronto) is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work in the community, on this territory.

The Committee asks all panel chairs and event conveners to please read this statement aloud at the beginning of each session:

To begin, we wish to acknowledge this land on which the ISA conference is taking place. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and, most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.