When New Westminster City Council meets today, its meetings will begin with a land acknowledgement.
At its Oct. 18 meeting, council supported a motion to adopt the practice of using an Indigenous land acknowledgement at formal city gatherings. The land acknowledgement will also be printed on publicly available city documents, agendas and web-based media.
“There is no existing policy for offering Indigenous land acknowledgements in the city,” said the report to council. “However, offering land acknowledgements at city gatherings has become a common practice in the past several years.”
The acknowledgement states:
“We recognize and respect that New Westminster is on the unceded and unsurrendered land of the Halkomelem speaking Peoples. We acknowledge that colonialism has made invisible their histories and connections to the land. As a city, we are learning and building relationships with the people whose lands we are on.”
According to the staff report, New Westminster is settled on the unceded and unsurrendered land of several Halkomelem-speaking Nations, and the city recognizes that its knowledge of these Nations is limited and their territories include areas far beyond the city’s boundaries.
“Council is committed to improving the city’s understanding of these Nations’ interests through the development of respectful and reciprocal relationships,” said the report. “Part of this process aspires to identify an acknowledgement that is inclusive of their multiple interests to this land.”
Staff say this process is taking time, but recommended the city adopt a practice of acknowledging that First Nations continue to live here and have been present since time immemorial.
“This acknowledgement should recognize the impacts of colonial settlement on these lands and the unextinguished rights thee Nations have to them,” said the report.
According to staff, the land acknowledgement approved by council is considered an interim measure and is expected to evolve as the city build relationships with local First Nations.
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