The Agenda vol. 62 - Making land acknowledgments meaningful

Land acknowledgments have become common practice at events, on websites, even conference calls. But are they truly meaningful, or have they become a box-ticking exercise for those who want to appear progressive without doing any real work?

In this month’s Agenda, we explore whether land acknowledgments can play a role in advancing reconciliation, and best practices for making them impactful.?

Back your words with up with actions

Say you’re hosting an event and you’ve acknowledged on whose traditional territories you’re standing. Attendees have listened with what seems like the appropriate amount of reverence. Now what? Indigenous critics of land acknowledgments say they are too often performative and don’t benefit Indigenous communities at all. Indigenous proponents say they can be meaningful — when backed up with action. If reconciliation or decolonization are important to your organization, be sure your land acknowledgment includes some of the steps you’re taking to ensure you aren’t just paying lip service, such as regular donations to Indigenous organizations or a commitment to Indigenous representation on panels. More from Indigenous experts:?

So you began your event with an Indigenous land acknowledgment. Now what?

Acknowledge the past to shape the future?

When considering writing and implementing a land acknowledgment, a lot of individuals and organizations balk at the discomfort of acknowledging their fraught relationship with Indigenous peoples (for example, institutions that have a history of exclusionary policies or overt racism). Rev. Tony Snow recommends leaning into that vulnerability and acknowledging an intention to repair past harms. Where violence has occurred, harms must be addressed before repair can happen. Land acknowledgments, Snow says, can be a bridge toward that repair.?

This is what’s missing from land acknowledgments

How not to do a land acknowledgment?

If you’ve heard a number of land acknowledgments that struck you as hollow or even hypocritical, you’ll enjoy this scathing 2019 takedown of the stunning lack of effort that many organizations put into them. The (non-Indigenous) author does offer some helpful takeaways for those who want to do it better: ensuring the acknowledgment reveals a specific relationship between the event and the people who are acknowledged, never using boilerplate language, and never smelling of “self-congratulation, either by the speaker or the institution. If it makes you look good, you’re doing it wrong.” Read on for more.

‘Land Acknowledgments’ Are Just Moral Exhibitionism

From the Impact Relations Community:

Stuff we love: Little Bird - a new series on Crave about a Sixties Scoop survivor adopted by a Jewish family who begins to retrace her roots and the family she was taken from.

More resources: Native-Land.ca - An interactive map of traditional Indigenous territories and languages across Turtle Island (North America) for those wanting to understand more about the places they inhabit.

Thanks for reading,

— Ashley Letts, Managing Editor