City updates more inclusive land acknowledgement statement

By Alexandra Noad - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on September 7, 2024.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Cyndi Bester Crane, co-chair of Reconciliation Lethbridge Advisory Committee speaks to reporters about the newly updated land acknowledgement Friday morning in front of city hall.

The City of Lethbridge updated its Land Acknowledgement on Friday to become more inclusive and welcoming.

These changes were made following structural changes in local Indigenous organizations.

Echo Nowak, Indigenous relations specialist for the City of Lethbridge, says these changes began in July to help make it more inclusive.

“In July the City of Lethbridge updated the Land Acknowledgement statement to be more inclusive to all indigenous people living in Lethbridge, but also to rename the Metis as there was some structural changes within their organization and we are now the District One with the Metis nation of Alberta,” said Nowak.

The Land Acknowledgment now reads: “The City of Lethbridge acknowledges that we are gathered on the lands of the Blackfoot people of the Canadian Plains and pays respect to the Blackfoot people past, present and future while recognizing and respecting their cultural heritage, beliefs and relationship to the land. The City of Lethbridge offers respect to the Metis and all who have lived on this land and made Lethbridge their home.”

The updated acknowledgment is an open community resource for people organizations and businesses for further education and acknowledgement of Indigenous peoples in Lethbridge.

Cyndi Bester Crane, co-chair of Reconciliation Lethbridge Advisory committee, encourages everyone in the community to consider using the updated Land Acknowledgment to show their support for Truth and Reconciliation.

“Truth and reconciliation journey for everyone is a little bit different and so updating this shows in the journey that we’re updating language, we’re really involving the community and that we’re not limiting access to anybody,” said Bester Crane.

Downtown BRZ has partnered with the City of Lethbridge to provide window clings to partner businesses. Sarah Amies, executive director of the BRZ, says it is one of the ways the Downtown BRZ has shown their commitment to create an inclusive and welcoming environment.

“The BRZ is very happy to partner with the city of Lethbridge in this initiative, in this updated land acknowledgement. It’s so important to continue to update and revise and refine our work within reconciliation. The BRZ has a stack of the window clings and we are handing them out to our member businesses, there are over 500 of those persuading folks to put them in their windows,” said Amies.

With National Day Truth and Reconciliation happening on Sept. 30, The City will be hosting activities the week leading up to it. Bester Crane encourages members of the community to engage in learning more about what Truth and Reconciliation looks like.

“I’ve been involved with this committee for almost six years now and I know the growth opportunities and experience I’ve had and I just think more people need to engage and have those experiences so they really learn the importance of truth and reconciliation and it’s a wonderful build up for our week long activity,” said Bester Crane.

The City’s Oki video, which originally launched in 2021 when city council adopted Oki as their official greeting, was created as a resource to further educate and bring awareness about the Indigenous history of Sikoohkotoki (Lethbridge.) The video can be found at Lethbridge.ca or on the City’s YouTube channel.