Personalized Land Acknowledgements at Broadview Public School

Personalized Land Acknowledgements at Broadview Public School
Posted on 05/19/2022
Personalized Land Acknowledgements at Broadview Public School

Broadview Public School engaged in learning to revise the school’s land acknowledgement practices and create opportunities for classes to write personalized land acknowledgements. With support from the OCDSB Indigenous Education Team, students took part in conversations, reading, visualizations and other activities to learn, reflect, and share their gratitude.
Registered Early Childhood Educator Joey Persaud worked on a revised land acknowledgement for the school, with guidance provided by Indigenous Education Itinerant Teacher Kareena Butler. “The goal was to create a more meaningful land acknowledgement,” says Joey, “that honours the traditional caretakers of this land, reflects the reciprocal relationships between all living things on the land, highlights our responsibility to care for the land, and reflects our responsibility towards reconciliation and action.” In March, students worked together to record a video:

Students in Kindergarten and Grade 6 also created personalized class land acknowledgements. To guide the process, they participated in various activities to learn the history of this territory and the importance of all living things – from read-alouds to guided visualizations about their favourite places on the land. They had class discussions about what it means to live on unceded and unsurrendered Algonquin Territory; the gifts and resources that the land provides; and how to thank and take care of the land. 
Here is one of the personalized acknowledgements, written by the Kindergarten class, with support from Kareena and Joey:

quote

We, the Alligators Class, would like to acknowledge that we eat, play, sleep, learn, participate, listen, and are kind to others, every day on unceded and unsurrendered Algonquin Territory.
 
We appreciate and give thanks to the land because it gives us food and takes care of us, and makes us happy and calm.
We appreciate and give thanks to the water because it is the first medicine and we all drink it when we are thirsty.
We appreciate and give thanks to the animals which provide us with food and materials for clothes.
We appreciate and give thanks to the plants for giving us clean air and food, and the beauty and joy that flowers bring us in the spring.
 
We appreciate and give thanks to the Algonquin Nation for protecting us by taking care of the land and nature that we live on.
 
We will also take care of the land by picking up garbage, playing outside, and taking care of the plants, trees and animals, and giving back to the land and not just taking.
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These acknowledgements were shared with the school community, so that “students hearing other students reading their own personalized land acknowledgements would inspire others to write their own,” says Joey.


This initiative was supported by resources and guidance from the OCDSB Indigenous Education team. For more information about the Team’s work, including resources for students, staff and families, visit the Indigenous Education page.
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