Territorial Acknowledgement

As authors of this book, we want to acknowledge that the digital footprint of this book lives at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, which serves a region south of the Fraser River which overlaps with the unceded traditional and ancestral lands of the Kwantlen, Musqueam, Katzie, Semiahmoo, Tsawwassen, Qayqayt and Kwikwetlem Peoples – the stewards and caretakers of these lands, waters, and skies since time immemorial.

The authors of this book come from and live across many different territories throughout what is now known as Canada, including both unceded territory and lands negotiated through treaty. In all cases, we share the responsibility to respect and uphold Indigenous sovereignty and to live alongside one another in a good way. Each author in this book speaks to their own relationship to the lands on which they live in their Situating the Author sections. As you read through this book, we strongly encourage you to consider your own relationships with place and the people who have acted as caretakers of those lands.

As Squamish First Nation’s Ta7talíya Michelle Nahanee notes in her workshop on Territorial Acknowledgements, Territorial Acknowledgements or Territorial Honourings reflect work done in a good way. This practice is a push-back against colonial erasure of Indigenous Peoples on Turtle Island (North America) (Nahanee, 2021). Territorial Honourings encourage us to pause and reflect on settler colonial history, while simultaneously raising awareness of Indigenous land rights, treaties, and title.

While land acknowledgements are meant to be unique to place and may differ across what we know as Canada, if you would like to learn more there are excellent guides at the University of Alberta’s Centre for Teaching and Learning (n.d.) or X̱wi7x̱wa Library (2026). To help identify a traditional territory, we encourage you to visit native-land.ca as a good starting point.