The Lands We Walk: Free Land Acknowledgment Resource
The Lands We Walk: A Guide for Land and Territorial Acknowledgements in Canada” is a comprehensive resource developed by the Indigenous Perspectives Society, Published in July 2024. The guide aims to help individuals and organizations understand and deliver respectful land and territorial acknowledgements across Canada. It covers the importance and objectives of land acknowledgements, different types of acknowledgements (welcome, verbal, and written), and provides frameworks and prompts for creating authentic acknowledgements.
Lekwungen means “Place to smoke herring”, Lkwung means “to smoke herring” and Lkwungen’athun or Lekwungi’gnun refers to the language of the land. lək̓ʷəŋən traditionally and still to-date unites the Xwsepsum and Songhees Peoples as one family.
The southern tip of Vancouver Island (including Victoria, Langford and surrounding areas), the southeastern tip of the San Juan Island, west to Albert Head are the traditional territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən also known as the Songhees and Xwsepsum (Also known as the Esquimalt Nation) Nations.
We acknowledge and thank the lək̓ʷəŋən People – past, present, and future – for their stewardship, care, and leadership on these lands. As an urban Indigenous organization, we acknowledge that we are guests on these lands and acknowledge our responsibility to the land, its resources, and its people. We also give thanks to the ancestors, supernatural ones, leaders and matriarchs, creatures big and small for looking after the rich resources and cultural teachings of this beautiful land.