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Land Acknowledgement

Background

It is an Indigenous protocol to acknowledge the Traditional and Ancestral lands at the start of events, gatherings, and meetings. It is used to honour the Indigenous people who have lived and worked on this land historically and presently before the arrival of settlers. It is important to understand the long-standing history that has brought us to reside, work, and meet on the land, and to seek to understand our place within that history. Land acknowledgements do not exist in a past tense or historical context—colonialism is a current ongoing process.

To recognize the land is an expression of gratitude, appreciation, and a way of honouring the Indigenous people who have been living and working on the land from time immemorial. It allows us the opportunity to appreciate the unique role and relationship that each of us has with the land; the long-standing, rich history of the land; and our privileged role in residing here.

Land Acknowledgement

We acknowledge that the land that ONTABA’s office is on is the traditional territory of many nations including the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat. This land is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples. We also acknowledge that now-called Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. We thank the Mississaugas of the Credit and all Indigenous Peoples throughout history who have cared for this land since the beginning. 

ONTABA recognizes the historical and ongoing oppression of Indigenous Peoples on Turtle Island, upheld by genocidal behaviours in large and small ways by people across many institutions, including those in the field of behaviour analysis. ONTABA strives to use the science of applied behaviour analysis to work towards goals of reconciliation, indigenization, and decolonization in relationship with Indigenous Peoples across what we now call Ontario. 

In the spirit of decolonization, some action items that ONTABA has committed to include: 

  • Disseminating education about cultural safety, humility, and appropriation through behaviour analytic approaches for members 
  • Hiring and retention initiatives targeted to increase the number of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis professionals in the ABA field
  • Removing financial barriers for First Nations, Inuit, and Metis members 
  • Building and sustaining healthy, meaningful, reciprocal relationships with Indigenous leaders, Elders, clients, Nations, and communities

In an effort to indigenize and democratize knowledge sources, pluralistic, Indigenous knowledge sources and ways of knowing are centered, using citations that go beyond peer reviewed journal articles produced in western academies of higher education and including Indigenous knowledges shared through a variety of mediums (e.g., interviews, blog posts, webinars, videos, etc.) (Kennedy et al., 2020; Kwon, 2022). 

BSO Indigenous Land Acknowledgement Working Group. (2021). Behavioural Supports Ontario Indigenous Land Acknowledgement Framework.Behavioural Supports Ontario Provincial Coordinating Office, North Bay Regional Health Centre, Ontario, Canada. 

CBC News. (2018, March 21). Canada’s cultural genocide of Indigenous Peoples [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5Gi0ycmekE

Hill, S.M. (2017). The clay we are made of: Haudensaunee land tenure on the Grand River (pp.1-11). Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press.

Hogan, S-S., McCracken, K., & Eidinger, A. (2019, July 15). Appropriation vs. incorporation: Indigenous content in the Canadian history classroom. Active History. http://activehistory.ca/2019/07/appropriation-vs-incorporation-indigenous-content-in-the-canadian-history-classroom/

Indigenous Corporate Training Inc. (2019, July 27). First Nation protocol on traditional territory. https://www.ictinc.ca/first-nation-protocol-on-traditional-territory

Jacobs, B. (2021, June 7). Indigenous lawyer: Investigate discovery of 215 children’s graves in Kamloops as a crime against humanity. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/indigenous-lawyer-investigate-discovery-of-215-childrens-graves-in-kamloops-as-a-crime-against-humanity-161941?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20May%2028-29%202022&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20May%2028-29%202022+CID_66e7a3567a1941a2ed2e9a84363f8adb&utm_source=campaign_monitor_ca&utm_term=Indigenous%20lawyer%20Investigate%20discovery%20of%20215%20childrens%20graves%20in%20Kamloops%20as%20a%20crime%20against%20humanity

Levy, S., Siebold, A., Vaidya, J., Truchon, M.-M., Dettmering, J., & Mittelman, C. (2021). A look in the mirror: How the field of behavior analysis can become anti-racist. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-021-00630-3

Kennedy, A., McGowan, K. & El-Hussein, M. (2020). Indigenous Elders’ wisdom and dominionization in higher education: Barriers and facilitators to decolonisation and reconciliation. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2020.1829108

Kwon, D. (2022). The rise of citational justice. Nature, 603(7902), 568–571. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00793-1

MacDonald, D. (2021, June 4). Canada’s hypocrisy: Recognizing genocide except its own against Indigenous peoples. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/canadas-hypocrisy-recognizing-genocide-except-its-own-against-indigenous-peoples-162128

Mills, S. (2019, March 18). What are land acknowledgements and why do they matter? Local Love. https://locallove.ca/issues/what-are-land-acknowledgements-and-why-do-they-matter/#.YE9oJy2966s

Munoz, S. (Host). [Student Affairs Now Host]. (2021, October 11). Moving beyond land acknowledgments [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-aUA3R9WH8

National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. (n.d.). Reclaiming power and place: Executive summary of the final report: National inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Executive_Summary.pdf

Native Governance Center (2019a, October 22). A guide to Indigenous land acknowledgment. https://nativegov.org/news/a-guide-to-indigenous-land-acknowledgment/

Native Governance Center. (2019b, October 31). Indigenous land acknowledgment [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5atUxNB2l3M&t=209s

Palmater, P. (2014). Genocide, Indian policy, and legislated elimination of Indians in Canada. Aboriginal Policy Studies (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), 3(3). https://doi.org/10.5663/aps.v3i3.22225

Powell, E. (2020, December 15). Bringing land acknowledgements to your workplace. She+ Geeks Out. https://shegeeksout.com/bringing-land-acknowledgements-to-your-workplace/

Tasker, J. P. (2015, May 29). Residential Schools findings point to ‘cultural genocide’, commission chair says. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/residential-schools-findings-point-to0cultural-genocide-commission-chair-says-1.3093580  

Tuck, E., & Yang, W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education and Society, 1(1), 1-40. https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/18630

Yepa-Pappan, D. Garcia, F. Miller, H. Roberts, M. [Field Museum]. (2020, October 12). We are all on Native land: A conversation about land acknowledgments [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZQldd3L0qw

University of Alberta Center for Teaching and Learning [CTL at UofA]. (2021, May 5). Territorial acknowledgements: Going beyond the script [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXYhBml2c2I