Walking as Land Acknowledgement is a walk co-created with Red River Métis social worker, educator, and memory activist Sam Howden that took place Aug 9 & 16 at the Bata Shoe Museum.
In this walk Sam and I built on our previous walking collaborations, their traditional knowledge, and our scholarly research to offer participants a chance to reflect on what it means to have a relationship with Land and the role of walking as a practice that can animate Land relations, affirm Indigenous sovereignty, and enact treaty responsibilities.
As part of the activity we opened a larger, critical, discussion about the practice of Land acknowledgement and how to move (literally!) beyond statements of recognition toward shared practices of stewardship.
The event will concluded with a discussion of the learnings gathered through the walking with each other and Land.
From the Bata Shoe Museum …
“Land acknowledgements can be powerful. At their best, they affirm Indigenous rights, presence, and claims to Land, mobilize action toward addressing ongoing colonial injustices, and provide space to consider the connections between people and the more-than-human world around us. But as these practices become more institutionalized, they can risk becoming routine—words spoken without much thought given to what they mean and the relationships they propose.
Together, we’ll follow the paths of buried streams, discover native plant species and traditional medicines, observe urban wildlife, and explore layers of local history and architecture. Along the way, we’ll reflect on walking as a form of witnessing—and consider the social and political complexities of moving through treaty Land, especially when the treaties that govern it have so often been broken.
This is an invitation to slow down, listen closely, and think differently about our relationship to the Land.”
Photos courtesy Bata Shoe Museum and Rebecca Tisdelle-Macais
