Learn About Land Acknowledgement

What is a land acknowledgement?
Land or territory acknowledgements are a way to create awareness of Indigenous presence and land rights in everyday life. These can be verbal statements often shared at the beginning of ceremonies, lectures, or public events, or written statements that can be added to email signatures, social media bios, or other written formats, similar to the way in which pronouns are shared. Land acknowledgements are incredibly meaningful for Indigenous communities, as one of the biggest problems we face is erasure and a crippling lack of representation. Taking a moment like this to acknowledge and honor Indigenous people is also important for non-Indigenous people as a way to help foster education and inclusion.

Example Land Acknowledgement
First, start by understanding the Native land you live on today. Enter your address in the native-land.ca map to see any territories, languages, or treaties related to your location. Share this new information with team members in your next meeting, share the link in your team chat, or discuss it with your family at dinner.
If you'd like to share a land acknowledgement you can use verbiage such as: "Before we begin I’d like to take a moment to give a brief land acknowledgement, which is one way I can help fight Indigenous erasure. Today I am joining you from Mountain View [OR LOCATION] and I acknowledge and honor the ancestral lands of the past, present, and future Ohlone people who are the original inhabitants of the Bay Area [OR LOCATION]."

Photo courtesy of Randolph College: After the Monacan Indian Nation land acknowledgement ceremony in November 2021

The News & Advance: Lou Branham, member of the Monacan Indian Nation and current museum director of the Monacan Cultural Foundation, speaks during a land acknowledgment ceremony recognizing the University of Lynchburg as being on Monacan land.