Cree artist helps Edmonton Oilers craft Indigenous land acknowledgment

When Lance Cardinal was approached by the Edmonton Oilers to act as an Indigenous consultant, the Cree artist and designer knew the first thing he wanted to do was create a land acknowledgment.

Cardinal worked with the National Hockey League team and Chief Wilton Littlechild, a former commissioner for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to come up with a video briefly describing the history of the land that the club's downtown arena sits on.

In a pre-recorded video, Littlechild delivered the team's first land acknowledgment at its home opening game Oct. 13.

"As chief, I welcome you here to Treaty 6 territory. This land has been the traditional region for homelands of the Metis people of Alberta, the Inuit and ancestral territory of the Cree, Dene, Blackfoot, Saulteaux and Nakota Sioux people since time immemorial," says Littlechild.

"The recognition of our history on this land is an act of reconciliation and we honour those who walk with us." 

The video ends with Littlechild saying "kinanaskomitin," or "thank you," in Cree.

"It was important to me for that acknowledgment to make sure it was spoken from our perspective — from a First Nations, first person, Indigenous perspective," Cardinal, who is from Bigstone Cree Nation in Treaty 8 territory in Alberta, said in a phone interview.

"Also talking about the different nations that lived, travelled and settled here ... those were important to have included as well."

The multimedia land acknowledgment is to be used before every home game and is to eventually include Cree syllabics.

Discourse on the purpose and practice of land acknowledgments has recently come to the forefront in social, political and educational settings across Canada.

The Manitoba government last month announced a consultation committee was being formed to help develop an acknowledgment to be used in the legislature.

Loretta Ross sees that as a positive move as long as it's done with sincerity and involves Indigenous people.

Ross has been Manitoba's treaty commissioner since 2017. Her office hasn't been asked to assist, but she said it gets two to three requests each week from groups asking for help developing land acknowledgements.

"We encourage people to do the research required to develop their own, and I think it's worked. People have taken the time to learn more about what they want to say," she said.