Seneca’s Land Acknowledgment Guide

Seneca’s campuses are located on the Land stewarded by Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat Nations. We acknowledge Treaty 13 (Toronto Purchase) signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and the Williams Treaty, signed with multiple Mississauga and Chippewa First Nations. We are all interconnected as treaty people with a shared obligation to learn, respect, honour, and sustain.

Today, this land continues to be home for many diverse Indigenous people, including First Nations, Métis and Inuit. We are grateful for the continuous and unceasing Indigenous stewardship of these lands and waters.

Seneca’s campuses are located on the Land stewarded by Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat Nations. We acknowledge Treaty 13 (Toronto Purchase) signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and the Williams Treaty, signed with multiple Mississauga and Chippewa First Nations. We are all interconnected as treaty people with a shared obligation to learn, respect, honour, and sustain.

Many of you are joining us from all over Turtle Island, a name many Indigenous peoples use for North America, and around the world. We encourage you to seek out whose ancestral lands you are on today.

Seneca’s campuses are located on the Land stewarded by Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat Nations. We acknowledge Treaty 13 (Toronto Purchase) signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. We are all interconnected as treaty people with a shared obligation to learn, respect, honour, and sustain.

Today, this land continues to be home for many diverse Indigenous people, including First Nations, Métis and Inuit. We are grateful for the continuous and unceasing Indigenous stewardship of these lands and waters.

Seneca’s campuses are located on the Land stewarded by Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat Nations. We acknowledge the Williams Treaty, signed with multiple Mississauga and Chippewa First Nations. We are all interconnected as treaty people with a shared obligation to learn, respect, honour, and sustain.

Today, this land continues to be home for many diverse Indigenous people, including First Nations, Métis and Inuit. We are grateful for the continuous and unceasing Indigenous stewardship of these lands and waters.

A land acknowledgment is a formal statement that recognizes Indigenous Peoples and their unique relationship to their traditional territories. This serves as an intentional reminder of treaties and our collective responsibility to uphold them, to meaningfully care for the land and to create space for a personalized response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action. It is an important statement of Seneca’s priorities and commitments.

The importance of a land acknowledgment is to pay respect and honour to the First Peoples (First Nations, Inuit, or Métis) and the history of the land upon which all Seneca campuses are located. This is a small but significant action towards truth, reconciliation and the strengthening of relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. Acknowledgments enable us to give thanks and recognition of our relationship to Indigenous lands, treaties, the original inhabitants and the history they have shared with this land for thousands of years. They also encourage reflection about the past, the resiliency of Indigenous Peoples and what individual and collective changes can be made in order to further the reconciliation process.

• Anishinaabe (Ah-nish-in-a-bek)
• Haudenosaunee (Ho-den-no-show-nee)
• Wendat (Ouen-dat)
• Chippewa (Chi-puh-waa)

Land acknowledgments are often done at the beginning of an event or at the start of a day and are an important way to identify traditional territory and the treaties that govern them.

Land acknowledgments, which have been provided for each of Seneca’s campuses, can also be placed on official documents, publications, websites and email signatures.

A land acknowledgment can be given by any Indigenous or non-Indigenous person living and working in a territory. Typically, the first speaker at an event/workshop/presentation delivers it, before the welcoming and introductory remarks and before the singing or playing of O Canada to recognize the historical order. Indigenous People should not be, by default, asked to deliver it by virtue of being Indigenous. But if you wish to have a traditional opening, you may invite Seneca’s Indigenous Elder or Knowledge Keeper. In addition, everyone is encouraged to consider other ways to include Indigenous People.

If you are hosting an in-person or virtual event, please consider starting it with a land acknowledgment. For online spaces, consider acknowledging that participants may be coming from other territories and invite everyone to reflect on the land where they are based.

• First Peoples @ Seneca
• Indigenous Literature and Resources
• Whose Land App