Whose Land Am I On?

Native Land Digital, an Indigenous-led not-for-profit organization based in Canada, is a map that shows Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages, and allows visitors to input their location to learn more about lands where they live, work, and visit. It is also a useful tool to use when crafting a land acknowledgment.

Land acknowledgments, formal statements that recognize Indigenous Peoples and their relationship to the land, are commonplace in some countries. They are currently most commonly used in the United States at cultural institutions but would be a simple and respectful gesture for all types of organizations to include in their events.

The U.S. Department of Arts and Culture has this to say about the practice:

“Acknowledgment is a simple, powerful way of showing respect and a step toward correcting the stories and practices that erase Indigenous people’s history and culture and toward inviting and honoring the truth. Imagine this practice widely adopted: imagine cultural venues, classrooms, conference settings, places of worship, sports stadiums, and town halls, acknowledging traditional lands. Millions would be exposed—many for the first time—to the names of the traditional Indigenous inhabitants of the lands they are on, inspiring them to ongoing awareness and action.”

The 2019 Native Land Digital Teacher Guide gives a straight-forward example of how a land acknowledgment might be incorporated into a gathering:

How do we acknowledge territory? Often, territory acknowledgments are concise, along the lines of: “I want to acknowledge that we are on the traditional territory of (nation names).”

You can download the #HonorNativeLand Guide here.