Respect Video Transcript
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hi everyone and thanks for joining us
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for this edition of
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two white settler educators today we’re
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going to be talking about
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territory acknowledgements so we’re
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going to have a discussion on
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what they are why it’s important to
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give one and how you actually give a
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territory acknowledgement
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okay so i’m joined with haley and we’re
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gonna talk about
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territory acknowledgements here we go
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hello everyone
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so first off we’re gonna talk about what
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exactly
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is a land acknowledgement or a land or
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territory acknowledgement
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basically a land or territory
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acknowledgement
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is conducted so that a group of people
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that you’re teaching or interacting with
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are aware that they are on indigenous
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lands
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it’s a statement of respect that should
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lead to further reflection
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of where you’re doing your learning and
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who you’re doing it with
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so in the past and currently territory
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acknowledgements are becoming
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and have been controversial as some
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indigenous people
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feel like these acknowledgments are
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becoming tokenized or used as a brief
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political statement
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as a segue into regular conversation so
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our purpose today is to help guide you
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through
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how to do a territory or land
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acknowledgement that’s authentic to you
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and respectful to the people that you
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are teaching and learning
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with
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it’s important to do a territory
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acknowledgement because
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it helps us recognize our colonial past
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and take responsibility for our
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promise of reconciliation it helps to
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create a safer space for indigenous
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peoples
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because we often can create discomfort
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for non-indigenous peoples which may
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give way to reflection and further
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learning
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some people that aren’t traditionally
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from these lands could feel
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uncomfortable
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speaking and doing this acknowledgement
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which is why we’re here to help to help
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walk you through
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how you would do an acknowledgement
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that’s right awesome job haley okay
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so when should you actually do a
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territory acknowledgement
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well anytime you have a public gathering
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of people
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either in person or online you should be
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doing
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a territory acknowledgement because we
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are recognizing
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that we are visitors and we are
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occupying these lands
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so the components of a territory
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acknowledgement
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can be really simple um and you can also
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kind of make them a bit more complex so
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we start with
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a recognition of the lands that you are
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on
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then you follow by stating whose
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territory or whose territories the land
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belongs to
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and then we always try to pronounce the
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nations as
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accurately as possible and this is part
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of
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settlers doing the work so
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we try really hard to pronounce these
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words that are unfamiliar to us
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because our everyone else who comes to
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canada they learn
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our english language and they try to do
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the best they can so
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we are also going to recognize that we
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get to be uncomfortable sometimes
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okay so we’re now going to share what a
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territory acknowledgement sounds like
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based on
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where we teach so um
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i teach in school district 61 greater
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victoria
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and we have a shorter territory of
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acknowledgement
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so it starts off like this
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the greater victoria school district
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wishes to recognize and acknowledge the
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esquimalt and songhis nations
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on whose traditional territories we live
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we learn and we do our work
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now i am not the greater victoria school
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district
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so as an individual i might say
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i as a visitor to these lands wish to
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recognize and acknowledge the esquimalt
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and songhis nations
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on whose traditional territories i live
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i learn
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and i do my work and what i really like
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about the
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the sd61 territory acknowledgement
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is that it also talks about doing the
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work
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so we are actively remembering
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that we have work to do in order to meet
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the trc’s
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calls to action and so i really
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appreciated that they
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put that in there and haley is going to
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take it away with the
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spanich land acknowledgement thank you
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joanna
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i really appreciate that you took time
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to slow down with
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pronunciation and acknowledging how you
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would
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do the acknowledgement as a
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representative of the school
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school district and also you as the
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visitor yourself
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so in saanich we
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use the acknowledgement which is a
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little uh different because
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there are different communities from
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which uh the schools reside
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so the land acknowledgement for saanich
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would sound like
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the saanich school district resides on
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the traditional territory
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of the wasanich people encompassing the
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four local communities
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pakuchin sartlip saikum and sayo
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we would like to acknowledge and thank
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the wassanich people for sharing their
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territory
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haichka is
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another word for thank you you can
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either say heichka if you would like
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or you can say thank you depending on
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what you feel more comfortable with
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and with saanich in regards to
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talking about what that acknowledgement
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means to
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the educators in the district it’s
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they’re committed to providing an
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education
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for wasanich and other indigenous
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students in ways that enable them to
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retain their identity
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and pride in their heritage and at the
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same time gaining respect for the
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diverse cultures presented in schools
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today
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we recognize sinchothen as the principal
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first nations language
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of the saanich territory and continue to
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support programs and curricula
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that build deeper understandings of the
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wastage culture values
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and histories
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yeah and i really love that the school
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district has added that that
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second piece um because i just feel like
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that is a piece that they are committed
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to and that they’re sharing and that
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they’re actively going okay
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we need to um to
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actually honor the wasanich culture and
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we need to embed
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this culture and these values and we
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need to talk about the complex history
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with our students
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and i’m just really happy that that’s
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finally happening
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so i feel like i feel like our
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our school district um territory
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acknowledgements
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are honoring um the fact that
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it is an acknowledgement um and it’s not
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just
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hey we’re quickly doing this thing we’re
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not going to mention that we’re doing
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the work we’re not going to mention the
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significance and then we’re moving on
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we’re actively i think
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getting into people’s heads that this is
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important
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and this is something that we need to
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talk about yeah couldn’t
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couldn’t agree more it’s acknowledging
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the past and then also embracing
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what future relationships are going to
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look like with the people that are now
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learning
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and living on these lands and
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territories
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yeah and i wonder what will happen um
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within the next maybe you know 10 or so
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years
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when we have more um
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maybe more bands getting uh their own
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governance systems and
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and and i wonder what will happen with
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with territory acknowledgements
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um and how we might have to flex and
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change
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and talk about um you know
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is it always appropriate to be doing one
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like when it are there times where we
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shouldn’t be doing one because i feel
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like
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there isn’t a uh a big structure in
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place it’s kind of like hey if you’re
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holding a public gathering you should be
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doing it
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um but when we talk about hosting and
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when we talk about
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um first nations and inuit metis cult
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like cultural practice around hosting
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you know are we inviting uh
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are we inviting members of the community
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into this public space that we are
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hosting an event
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are we recognizing are we giving them a
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gift for
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allowing us to be on their lands and
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these are things that i think
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we don’t really discuss and and are a
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little bit
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um i find really interesting and chelsea
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vowel
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on her website talks about that more and
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we’ll link that resource up at the
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bottom
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of our press book okay
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thank you for listening to us talk about
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um territory acknowledgments
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and we hope that you can
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see that if we can do them you can do
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them
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thank you so much
