An Almost Anonymous Blog

Land Acknowledgements

This past Monday was the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. I have mixed feelings about this day, but given that I spent the day travelling and did not do any kind of observation on the day I don't want to throw stones at anyone.

But a podcast came out that day that addressed a topic I think about a lot: land acknowledgements.

Have land acknowledgements become “white noise”? | This is Ottawa | CBC Podcasts | CBC Listen

If you're not familiar with the term, here's a link to read up about it first before going through this post:

Native-Land.ca | Terrirory Acknowledgement

Before I go any further I want to note that I'm not Indigenous - I'm a white male. I'm married to an Indigenous woman so that's the perspective I'm coming from. I don't consider myself an expert in this area by any means, and as much as I'm more familiar with Indigenous culture (specifically, my wife's culture - traditions and ceremonies differ from region-to-region), I recognize that I'm approaching this threw a colonial lens.

I struggle with a lot of what's being done "in the name of reconciliation". How much of what people and corporations do is all about "checking a box" and being performative about reconciliation? I know I'm not the only one who feels that way but the podcast above addresses the most basic aspect of reconciliation and is one of the things I have problems with. In recent years my company has made a point to do land acknowledgements at the beginning of every meeting. Most of the time they're read from a template (there's a website that provides these for the territory you live in), and they don't change from person-to-person. Other times the person reading them injects their own experience and what they're doing to learn more about the land and people they share it with.

The latter is what I prefer; they sound stiff and wooden when they read it, but that's because they're reading from something they wrote out and it can be awkward speaking to a large group of people. The former, though? It loses meaning (to me) when you're reading the same text over and over. Hence - white noise. The podcast talks about sporting events doing this and then launching into national anthems, or people talking over land acknowledgements and ignoring them. They're not special anymore.

We acknowledge we are compiling & writing this newsletter on the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee, the Huron-Wendat and the Mississaugas of the Credit of the Anishinaabe. Toronto is in the 'Dish with One Spoon Territory’. The Dish with One Spoon is a treaty between the Haudenosaunee, and the Mississaugas that bound them to share the territory and protect the land. Subsequent Indigenous Nations and peoples, Europeans and all newcomers have been invited into this treaty in the spirit of peace, friendship, and respect. We are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.

-- The land acknowledgement included at the top of every newsletter sent out by upper management at my corporation, and an example of the kind of acknowledgement I dislike.

The Indigenous people in the podcast do a much better job than I ever could of expressing what they want to see and hear in land acknowledgements. The main takeaways I got were:

I think you should listen to it instead of reading me blather on about it. Some time stamps I bookmarked (exact times may vary depending on digitally inserted ads; text in quotes are the general subject of the bookmark):

I hope you took the time to listen to the podcast and hear the words from Indigenous voices.

Reply by email   Share

Or if you prefer, find me on Mastodon.

#reflection