Traditional land acknowledgement passes unanimously

Merritt City Council has unanimously passed a recommendation from staff to adopt a traditional land acknowledgement that will be read at the beginning of meetings moving forward. The motion was originally set into motion by Councillor Travis Fehr via a notice of motion in June.

After consultation with local first nation bands, staff recommended the following;

We (I) would like to begin this meeting by acknowledging that we are gathered on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Nlaka’pamux and Syilx people.

In this land acknowledgement, the term ‘acknowledge’ is explicitly used to reflect the central role that the principle of acknowledgement plays in the reconciliation process. The word ‘traditional’ is used to recognize that the land was traditionally used by First Nations. The term ‘ancestral’ is used to recognize that land is handed down from generation to generation, and “unceded” is used to recognize that the land has not been turned over to the Crown through treaties or other agreements,” said CAO Sean Smith.

The land acknowledgement will be used at the commencement of every City Hall meetings moving forward.