ATHABASCA – Athabasca town council will further discuss the possibility of including a land acknowledgement on official documents and correspondence at council’s Nov. 16 meeting, after councillors decided they needed to conduct further research before making a decision on the matter.
A request for decision from Coun. Edith Yuill to adopt a land acknowledgement to recognize that the town resides on and conducts its business on Treaty 6 territory, would follow similar motions from Athabasca County and Aspen View Public Schools, and any number of other municipalities, school divisions and organizations that now include land acknowledgements as part of their day-to-day business.
Mayor Rob Balay pointed out lands north of the river are part of Treaty 8 territory, so that would have to be included in the acknowledgement as well.
Coun. Dave Pacholok had some concerns with the request though.
“It's my belief that the issue is akin to kind of tearing the band aid off a site that hasn't healed yet,” he said. “And I think that continuing a statement on the issue keeps the hard feelings on the surface, which I don't think helps us in reconciliation. I think there are other ways that we can be doing this.”
Yuill replied, “A lot of people are appalled that the town hasn’t, as compared to the county and Aspen View, and I think to get back in the good graces of some of the citizens that it would be a good thing to do.”
Balay then asked for everyone else’s opinion on the matter, starting with Coun. Ida Edwards, who said she was still on the fence, but was leaning toward Pacholok’s viewpoint.
“I used to be very pro land acknowledgement, but now there is some feedback from Indigenous communities that it's sort of like an empty promise and I'm concerned that it's just the easiest thing to do,” she said. “There's a lot of healing and a lot of things we need to do to acknowledge the challenges Indigenous people are facing.”
Coun. Loretta Prosser commented the practice seems to have come to serve the purposes of the organizations adopting the land acknowledgement more than actual reconciliation but said was still in favour of Yuill’s suggestion, as was Coun. Sara Graling.
Coun. Jon LeMessurier said he would like more time to research the issue and the alternatives before making a firm decision.
Balay said he would likely support the RFD but wanted councillors to be comfortable in making their decisions so didn’t see a problem with putting it over to the next meeting.
“We have to start somewhere with reconciliation,” said Yuill. “And even though some factions might think that it's insincere, I think that going forward, if more municipalities did it, it would become sincere.”
