Land Acknowledgement

The territorial land acknowledgement at the University of Waterloo was introduced in 2016, as a small first step in the process of universities responding to the 94 Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Published in 2015, this report was a call to action for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples to address the devastating effects of colonization and thereon, the recognition of cultural genocide and stolen land. With the response of Canadian universities came a series of intentions, but upon implementation, such an acknowledgement may appear as a seemingly void effort. The question of tokenism and pandering brings attention to deeper issues in a reluctance to overturn complacency.

The lack of address and effective ‘response’ has been a circulating point of analysis for the student body, with the creation of Treaty Lands, Global Stories in 2016 and their report, Treaty Lands, Global Stories: Designing an Inclusive Curriculum, published in 2018. Their report details a dearth of a critically inclusive curriculum and the possibilities of expanding architectural design ethos. They ask us to, “...imagine if each school went beyond [acknowledgement], and educated its students about the significance of the ground they walk on every day? What opportunities might open up for each school to connect more fully with its location and context?”

In this reflection, we open ourselves to furthering the process of unlearning and the understanding of our position on land that rightfully belongs to the Neutral, the Anishinaabe, and the Haudenosaunee peoples. As we commit to opening the dialogue of inequity in the architectural field, we also commit to continuing the ongoing discussion in the context of land repatriation.