While we may each be in different locations physically, we are all part of the community at Lakehead University and the infrastructure for this virtual work continues to sit on the lands on which Indigenous people have lived for thousands of years. It is our privilege to be able to connect our work to these lands.
A land acknowledgement acts as a form of reconciliation, by demonstrating respect and recognition for Indigenous peoples.
Please take time to consider the traditional territories and the peoples of those territories on which you currently reside and work. Native Land Digital, a BC not-for-profit society governed by an Indigenous Board of Directors, has provided an interactive map where you can begin to understand the deep significance and histories of the places on we each live and work today.
While anyone, Indigenous or not, can make a territorial acknowledgement, only a member of the Indigenous community whose land you are on can welcome you to it.
Lakehead University respectfully acknowledges its campuses are located on the traditional lands of Indigenous peoples. Lakehead Thunder Bay is located on the traditional lands of the Fort William First Nation, Signatory to the Robinson Superior Treaty of 1850. Lakehead Orillia is located on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg. The Anishinaabeg include the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Pottawatomi nations, collectively known as the Three Fires Confederacy.
Lakehead University acknowledges the history that many nations hold in the areas around our campuses, and is committed to a relationship with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples based on the principles of mutual trust, respect, reciprocity, and collaboration in the spirit of reconciliation.