{"id":259923,"date":"2019-01-14T20:27:33","date_gmt":"2019-01-15T01:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yfiledev.uit.yorku.ca\/?p=259923"},"modified":"2025-04-03T11:55:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T15:55:09","slug":"new-video-explores-the-importance-of-understanding-the-land-acknowledgement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/yfile\/2019\/01\/14\/new-video-explores-the-importance-of-understanding-the-land-acknowledgement\/","title":{"rendered":"New video explores the importance of understanding the land acknowledgement"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ruth Koleszar-Green<\/p><\/div>\n

What is the land acknowledgement? Why is it important and what does it mean? These questions are at the heart of a new video produced through a collaborative effort involving the Centre for Aboriginal Student Services (CASS) at York University; Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Deborah McGregor,\u00a0Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Environmental Justice; School of Social Work Professor Ruth Koleszar-Green, special advisor to the president on Indigenous initiatives; and Amy Desjarlais, traditional knowledge keeper.<\/p>\n

The video, which was funded by the Office of the Vice-Provost Academic, explains the statements included in the land acknowledgement, the history of the traditional territory of the Indigenous Peoples who called the Keele and Glendon Campus lands their home before the arrival of the settlers and the Dish With One Spoon Treaty that covers the area.<\/p>\n

For several years now, major events at York University such as convocation, conferences and symposiums have begun with a recitation of the University\u2019s land acknowledgement, which reads as follows:<\/p>\n

We recognize that many Indigenous nations have longstanding relationships with the territories upon which York University campuses are located that precede the establishment of York University. York University acknowledges its presence on the traditional territory of many Indigenous Nations. The area known as Tkaronto has been care taken by the Anishinabek Nation, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Wendat, and the M\u00e9tis. It is now home to many Indigenous Peoples. We acknowledge the current treaty holders and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. This territory is subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement to peaceably share and care for the Great Lakes region.<\/em><\/p>\n