Territorial Acknowledgement and Call to Action

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I wish to acknowledge that the University of Alberta is located in Treaty 6 territory of the Papaschase Cree, and homeland of the Métis Nation. (Map of Canada's treaties). This treaty is crucial for all of us, Indigenous or not. By international law, non-Indigenous cannot live on this land except through the agency of this Treaty.

I also acknowledge that land acknowledgements—while important — are of limited effect in themselves. They can become (and all too often have become) mere boilerplate, pro forma perfunctory ritual performances, lacking any sincere intention or feeling, not to mention durable commitment or action. Such token gestures are completely inadequate to address - not to mention redress - the horrific injustices suffered by Indigenous peoples of Canada -- and everywhere else in the world -- since colonial conquests began many centuries ago. They may be necessary but they are completely insufficient --in and of themselves -- to effect reconciliation .

We are a university, gathered primarily for education; not everyone can work full-time towards social justice. Yet, we can all do something to effect real change. Perhaps the most importantly, we can educate ourselves, and others, as a first step towards decolonization.

Treaty 6, signed in 1876-78 between Indigenous peoples and the Crown, but interpreted somewhat differently by Indigenous and Crown signatories, was repeatedly violated by British and later by Canadian authorities. For instance the Papaschase Cree lost their land in Edmonton, though they signed the treaty in 1877.

Similar injustices prevail in many countries across the globe where tragical and inhumane oppression, subjugation, exploitation, and genocide of Indigenous peoples, along with violation of their human rights and expropriation of their lands, continues unabated, any land acknowledgements notwithstanding. In Vancouver that acknowledgement includes the phrase "unceded territories". Is such a phrase not an open acknowledgement of outright theft? One wonders what sort of land acknowledgement Israeli settlers in the West Bank might formulate.

For Canada, and Edmonton in particular, I encourage you all to read a powerful essay by Dr. Sharon Venne, an internationally known Cree lawyer and activist. I include some links below.

Venne, Sharon. 2008. “Understanding Treaty 6: An Indigenous Perspective.” In Aboriginal and Treaty Rights in Canada: Essays on Law, Equality, and Respect for Difference, edited by Michael Asch. Vancouver: UBC Press.

Also read through this Story Map about the Papaschase Cree, who lost their Edmonton land and First Nations status, or this History of the Papaschase by Chief Calvin Bruneau.

This map provides some broader coverage of indigenous lands across the globe (but in practice mainly in recent settler areas: Americas, and Australasia, completing omitting many indigenous peoples and lands of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and Palestine in particular).

Links:

Territorial Acknowledgement and Call to Action

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