Nelson city council has changed the Indigenous acknowledgement it uses at the start of council meetings and other events.
The previous one read: “The City of Nelson acknowledges all Aboriginal peoples on whose traditional territories we stand. We honour their connection to the land and rivers and respect the importance of the environment to our strength as a community.”
The new one specifically mentions several groups: “We would like to acknowledge that the land on which we gather is the traditional territory of the Ktunaxa, the Syilx, and the Sinixt peoples, and is home to the Métis and many diverse Aboriginal persons. We honour their connection to the land and rivers and respect the importance of the environment to our strength as a community.”
The change was brought forward by councillor Anna Purcell at the Oct. 22 meeting.
“I think it is broadly considered better to name the First Peoples,” she said. “The incoming council can further work on it and tweak it further, but I think it was a step in the right direction.”
Purcell said she was moved to make this change when she saw a recently discovered photo from the 1890s showing tipis on the Nelson waterfront.
The photo “was a remarkable find,” Purcell said. “I’d never seen anything like it, and it stirred up my discontent [with the previous acknowledgement statement]. It reminded me how important reconciliation is, how the time is now.”