Wellington County council is set to discuss the addition of an Indigenous land acknowledgement as part of the opening of each meeting when councillors return from summer break.
Coun. Diane Ballantyne introduced the motion at Thursday’s meeting, “on this day where the bodies of 751 more Indigenous children have been unearthed in Saskatchewan,” she said.
The announcement by Cowessess First Nation comes just weeks after the county was rocked by news the remains of 215 children had been found on the grounds of another institution in Kamloops.
Ballantyne told GuelphToday, in her view, adding a land acknowledgement to Wellington County meetings is “a very small step in fulfilling the 94 Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.”
“It is incumbent upon us to work toward reckoning with what our history contains,” she said. “A land acknowledgement is certainly not going to fix everything, but it begins the long overdue conversation of acknowledging that we’re settlers here on stolen lands."
In early 2020, the County of Wellington directed staff to conduct research for the purpose creating a land acknowledgement to be used at meetings. Ballantyne said that work is ongoing and the county has since formed an Indigenous Advisory Committee.
But she believes the creation of a land acknowledgement by the county is "long overdue."
“It’s something I strongly believe should have happened before,” she said, clarifying that she was speaking generally, and not about the process that started last year. “And I really think we need to move on this to demonstrate leadership.”
The City of Guelph has been opening its council meetings with a land acknowledgement since 2016. In it, the city states that Guelph is situated on treaty land, steeped in Indigenous history and home to many Indigenous people today. It also acknowledges that it sits on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.
Wellington County is covered by multiple treaties and land agreements, including the Haldimand Proclamation that granted a large tract of land to the Six Nations of Grand River for their alliance with the British during the American Revolution. The tract — which includes Fergus and Elora — was thrust into the news in April when the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council declared a moratorium on development in the area.
