Sharing this land as neighbours

Each year, King’s Indigenous Initiatives Circle (IIC) supports the university’s commitment to justice, reconciliation, truth-telling, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. The Circle includes Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees and students and partners with local First Nations.

In 2021, IIC focused its energy on two main initiatives: organizing events for Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, and updating King’s territorial land acknowledgement.

In the weeks leading up to Orange Shirt Day—organized to remember victims and survivors of Canada’s Indian Residential School system—IIC sold t-shirts in partnership with the Orange Shirt Society.

King’s also welcomed Rev. Travis Enright, Cree leader, priest, and archdeacon for Indigenous Ministries for the Anglican Diocese of Edmonton, to lead a reflective chapel service. Along with local Cree elder Russell Auger and two young Cree helpers, Enright led students and employees through an interactive learning and reflection experience titled ‘Reclaiming Our Losses, Reviving the Circle.’

IIC looks forward to further engaging the wider community on the key question that land acknowledgements raise: how do we share this land well with all our relations, considering our tragic shared history and the challenges of our common future?

The King’s University is located in Amiskwaciy-waskahikan, a gathering place and home, past and present, for many Indigenous peoples, now part of Treaty Six territory and the Métis homeland.