The land is part of being, family Aboriginal spiritual beliefs are intimately associated with the land Aboriginal people live on. It is ‘geosophical’ (earth-centred) and not ‘theosophical’ (God-centred). The earth, their country, is “impregnated with the power of the Ancestor Spirits” which Aboriginal people draw upon.

Connection to Country For many Indigenous people, land relates to all aspects of existence – culture, spirituality, language, law, family and identity. That person is entrusted with the knowledge and responsibility to care for their land, providing a deep sense of identity, purpose and belonging.

The connection to land gives Aboriginal people their identity and a sense of belonging. Ambelin Kwaymullina explains how law is the basis to everything we see today: “The Ancestors taught the peoples the ways of living in country, and these ways were called Law.

Do your homework.

1. The Indigenous people to whom the land belongs.
2. The history of the land and any related treaties.
3. Names of living Indigenous people from these communities.
4. Indigenous place names and language.
5. Correct pronunciation for the names of the Tribes, places, and individuals that you’re including.

Acknowledging territory shows recognition of and respect for Aboriginal Peoples. It is recognition of their presence both in the past and the present. Recognition and respect are essential elements of establishing healthy, reciprocal relations.

However, land is much beyond just an economic asset for Indigenous peoples. Land provides sustenance for current and future generations; it is connected to spiritual beliefs, traditional knowledge and teachings; it is fundamental to cultural reproduction; moreover, commonly held land rights reinforce nationhood.

Explain why you are acknowledging the land. Take the time to reflect on why it is important for you or your group to acknowledge the land and what your relationship is with the territory you are on (are you Indigenous, are you settlers, have you come here as a refugee?).

Unceded means that First Nations people never ceded or legally signed away their lands to the Crown or to Canada. A traditional territory is the geographic area identified by a First Nation as the land they and/or their ancestors traditionally occupied and used.

The Tongva/Gabrieleno/Acjachemen people are the First Peoples of the region, their lands were unceded, they did not negotiate a treaty with Mexico or the US government. Today, the five Tongva/Gabrieleno tribes struggle every day for their sovereignty.

Most of B.C. remains unceded territory. In 1867, Canada assumed the role of the Crown in taking over Indian Affairs. The new dominion promised to continue the previous rights granted to Indigenous peoples, including the 1763 Declaration.

You might be living on unceded land. To be more precise: the Maritimes, nearly all of British Columbia and a large swath of eastern Ontario and Quebec, which includes Ottawa, sit on territories that were never signed away by the Indigenous people who inhabited them before Europeans settled in North America.

The map is available online and via the Native Land app (for both iOS and Android). Just type in your address, and you’ll be able to see what indigenous group(s) once lived there or nearby.

The name of Seattle actually comes from Chief Si’ahl (pronounced “See-ahlth) which makes Seattle the only major city named after a Native chief. Chief Si’ahl was the leader of both the Suquamish and Duwamish people; it was the Duwamish lands that currently make up metropolitan Seattle.

Such historians argue that the Mi’kmaq did not surrender and that, in fact, Nova Scotia is “unceded Mi’kmaw [Mi’kmaq] territory.” To sustain this argument, some historians have argued that the few hundred Mi’kmaq fighters were in a strong enough position to negotiate the terms of the Halifax Treaties and make demands …

In 1997, the Hereditary Chiefs brought their claim for their ancestral land to the Canadian Supreme Court. The court ruled that the Wet’suwet’en People had not relinquished their land rights and titles to 22,000 square kilometers of land in northern British Columbia.

When an Indigenous person came to be on the territory of another Nation, even if only passing through, they would announce their presence by saying something like, “l acknowledge that I am on the traditional territory of X Nation.” It was a way of saying: “I acknowledge that you are the Nation responsible for …

The Canada Council for the Arts acknowledges that our offices, located in Ottawa, are on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial.

Algonquin Anishinabe territory

Read. The Parliament buildings, home of the Canadian government, sit on unceded land of the Algonquins of Ontario. These First Nations state they still hold all rights to the territory, which covers 36,000 square kilometres.