Tackling equity and inclusion in environmental education involves a process of reflection and honest conversations with colleagues and other stakeholders - throughout this process you hopefully will be able to acknowledge where you are, where you've been, and where you are going.
But to close out this lesson, we want to focus quite literally on acknowledging where you are - the land under your feet. That land has a history that involves colonization, displacement, and genocide. The land may also be the territory of indigenous people that are largely invisible to modern society, but their claim to the land and their culture and identity are still valid. By acknowledging indigenous peoples and territories you recognize both the past and the present, even if this is just a few words at the beginning of a lesson, field trip, or other event.
The website Native Land features an interactive map which you can use to identify the indigenous territories, treaties, and languages. The Canadian not-for-profit organization behind the website has also produced a teaching guide which includes instructions and sample teaching exercises. In the introduction to the guide they explain both why land acknowledgement is important and how to do it:
Why Land Acknowledgements Are Important
Land acknowledgements are a way that people insert an awareness of Indigenous presence and land rights in everyday life. This is often done at the beginning of ceremonies, lectures, or, in this case, education guides. It can be an explicit yet limited way to recognize the history of colonialism and first nations as well as a need for change in settler-colonial societies. In this context, we’re looking to acknowledge the existence of Indigenous bodies in geography and how they occupy land.
How do we acknowledge territory?
Often, territory acknowledgements are concise, along the lines of: “I want to acknowledge that we are on the traditional territory of (nation names).” Some people may also mention the name of a local treaty. Some may learn the language and speak a few words in it.
If you are not sure how to pronounce a nation’s name, there are a number of ways to learn, including:
- Respectfully asking someone from that nation or from a local organization such as a Friendship Center or Indigenous Student Center,
- Check the nation’s website: they may have a phonetic pronunciation on their “About” page, an audio-recording of their name, or videos that include people saying the nation’s name,
- Call the nation after hours and listen to their answering machine recording.
While a brief acknowledgement may work for some groups, others wish to add more intention and detail to acknowledgements. To thoughtfully prepare an in-depth acknowledgement requires time and care. You may find it helpful to reflect on and research questions such as:
- Why is this acknowledgement happening?
- How does this acknowledgement relate to the event or work you are doing?
- What is the history of this territory? What are the impacts of colonialism here?
- What is your relationship to this territory?
- How did you come to be here?
- What intentions do you have to disrupt and dismantle colonialism beyond this territory acknowledgement?
Angela Mooney D’Arcy from the Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples explains how land acknowledgement relates to environmental education: