Territorial Acknowledgement

Written by: Lindsay Lichty

I offered this territorial acknowledgement to an Early Learning and Care class at Camosun College. I am inspired by the work of Enid Elliott, and her commitment to sharing authentic ways of taking ownership of being a settler. It's important that we place ourselves within our stories, and that we reflect so that our stories can evolve. This is the third time I've shared this acknowledgement, this time, editing the words to more accurately reflect the tone of the day, and the urgency for us to acknowledge and give voice to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.


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I.
I am a woman.
I am a woman living on stolen land.
I am a woman living on stolen land and trying to plant my roots.
I am a woman living on stolen land trying to plant my roots in the soil that contains the blood from the granddaughters of the women whose land we stole.
 
I.
I am a woman.
I am a women living on stolen land.
I am a woman living on stolen land trying to plant my roots.
I am a woman living on stolen land trying to plant my roots in the small space that the world allows for me to be a woman.

I.
I am a woman.
I am a woman living on stolen land.
I am a woman living on stolen land trying to plant my roots.
I am a woman living on stolen land trying to plant my roots in this colonialized Canadian soil. Soil that cakes the faces of the corpses of women that remain nameless on the news. Headlines buried beneath a story about the cost of living.
No mention of the cost of living as a woman.

I am a woman from a long line of women that deserve to be honored.
I am a woman at the front of a long line of women that deserve to be honored.
I am a woman committed to living honorably for of all of them.
 
I am a woman living on stolen land trying to plant my roots.     
I am a woman living on stolen land.
I am a woman.
I.
 
I am a woman living on the land stolen from the Lekwungen -speaking people, of the WSÁNEĆ nation, on the traditional territory of the Songhees and Esquimalt nations.