Land Acknowledgement

I grew up as a settler on lands of бараба (Baraba) and цаттыр (Cattyr) peoples of себер татарлары (Siberian Tatar) Nation.

As I currently can’t find an audio or transcription of a native speaker’s pronunciation of these names in сыбыр тел (Siberian Tatar language), this is the closest approximation I can do: bah-RAH-bah / TSA (like in caTS) - tyr (sound between oo and ee) / seh-BER tah-TAR-lah-ry (sound between oo and ee)

You can still listen to people reading poetry and talking in сыбыр тел.

Information on Indigenous peoples and traditional territories can sometimes be partially or fully innacurate, as there are issues with historical accounts, usually written and rewritten by colonizers, and current land claims and nation relationships. There wasn't much information about the people who took care and still take care of my childhood home, so I've cobbled up some information from wikipedia of all places and The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire that a generous webmaster transferred online.

Now, I am an uninvited guest on the lands of šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmaɁɬ (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) Nations.

šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmaɁɬ - Musqueam is pronounced: MUSS-quee-um

Hear a story about the origin of Musqueam name

Skwxwú7mesh - Squamish is pronounced: SKWA-mish

Hear a native speaker break down the word for the nation into sounds

səl̓ilwətaɁɬ - Tsleil-Waututh is pronounced: tSLAY-wah-tooth

Hear a story about Tsleil-Waututh Nation

kʷikʷəƛ̓əm - Kwikwetlem is pronounced: KWAY-quit-lum

Hear a native speaker say the name of the nation and more

The pronounciation guides are taken from UBC blog, as I like it more than the British Columbia one. The pronunciation given here is still simplified and Anglicized, so please feel free to listen to speakers linked below to hear how these names are actually pronounced.

Why make land/territory acknowledgement?

Allison Jones and other folks at Native Land dot CA summarize it like this: Territory acknowledgement is a way that people insert an awareness of Indigenous presence and land rights in everyday life.

Land acknowledgements state the truth: there were people who lived here before me, and there are still people here that are Indigenous to this place who will be here in the future. A good land acknowledgement should tell and remind non-Ingigenous people of the displacement, marginalization, and criminalization of Indigenous peoples on the very land that they've tended to since time immemorial and how unacceptable this is. Native Governance Center made some resources on land acknowledgements for folks of various levels of familiarity with the topic, including a guide on going beyond land acknowledgements as a single act.

Beyond land acknowledgements, there are plenty of things to do for any person to resist anti-Indigenous racism. Montreal Indigenous Community Network has some toolkits for allies to start with. For folks who have some knowledge already, Ancestral Pride has a zine for folks to rethink what an "ally" is.