“Do you know the name of the Indigenous nation or nations on whose land your house is built? What about where you grew up? Attended school? Went on a vacation? Where you work? If you don’t know, it’s time to find out. You can start with a resource like Native-Land.ca, on which the map in this book was based, and then verify the information through other sources like tribal websites, local community organizations, or universities. Then find out what those communities are up to today — have they been displaced to other lands? If so, where are they now? Is the local tribal nation still active in your area? If not, is there a local urban Native organization? For many cities and towns, it may feel as if there isn’t a Native presence or hasn’t been one for a very long time, but there are Native people everywhere.
“Once you learn whose land you’re on, how do you honor that relationship? It is becoming more common to hear a 'land acknowledgment' at the beginning of some public events, conferences, or talks. Land acknowledgments are more common in some other settler colonial nations, like the places currently known as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. These acknowledgments vary, but they usually give the name of the community on whose land the event is occurring. Although these acknowledgments are symbolic, they are important because they center Native nations and disrupt the status quo. However, these acknowledgments are just the first step. Building relationships with Native people should be account action, not just a checkbox at the beginning of an event.
“What can those actions look like? For settlers and non-Natives, it starts with acknowledging the invisibility and erasure of Native people and working to interrupt it. When events are planned, make sure there is a local Native presence. Invite (and pay) local elders to offer opening remarks and to be on advisory committees. Look closely at the language used on websites, forms, and fliers to see whether it privileges colonial understandings of place. If it does, then petition to have it changed to be more inclusive.”
