‘A great first step:’ UW students acknowledge indigenous peoples

WATERLOO — The part of University of Waterloo that is owned by its Federation of Students has been formally declared to sit on the traditional territory of the indigenous people who lived here long before white settlers came.

A plaque was unveiled at the Student Life Centre Friday, which reads: “The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River.

“We are on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishnaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples.”

This statement, known as a “land acknowledgement” has become an important symbol as awareness grows across Canada of the need to move toward reconciliation with its aboriginal people.

Indigenous leaders say they appreciate the acknowledgement for several reasons.

It is part of aboriginal protocol to acknowledge when you are in territory used by others. And also, the statement opens the dialogue for how control of the land might be shared in future.

“It’s going to be a great first step for the university,” said Emma Smith, a fine arts student going into fourth year, who was one of almost 100 people attending the unveiling ceremony.

Smith, who is Anishnaabeg from Walpole Island First Nations, is one of the 135 self-identified aboriginal students at Waterloo.

These students make up just over one-third of one per cent of the university’s entire student population of 36,670.

Smith hopes the plaque at the Student Life Centre will spark conversations and questions from students with little or no idea of the history of the indigenous people who hunted here centuries ago, before the land was settled.

She would also like the rest of the university to make the same land acknowledgement declaration.

University president Feridun Hamdullahpur praised the “leadership” of the student federation, and said Friday’s event showed “our respect for the land and the generations that have come before us.”

He said later that there will be ongoing university-wide discussions and strategizing to make sure that the next moves are meaningful, and not mere tokenism.

The land on which Waterloo Region is situated was granted to Six Nations aboriginal people by the British.

It was mostly sold to white settlers by Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant in 1798.

However, interpretations vary. Not all aboriginal people from Six Nations agree that Brant had the right to sell that land, and aboriginal leaders do not rule out future land claims.

Governments are required to consult with Six Nations if they make plans that involve the Grand River, such as building bridges.