UNBC is the latest in a long line of local organizations to receive an official land acknowledgement plaque from the Lheidli T’enneh – but this time it was not just one.
A plaque will be displayed in each of the university’s 18 buildings on campus and in town.
“It is going to be everywhere,” Lheidli T’enneh Chief Dolleen Logan told My PG Now after a small ceremony. “There will be no excuse when someone says Lheidli T’enneh and [someone else] responds ‘who?'”
Logan was happy to say the partnership between the Lheidli T’enneh and UNBC is as old as the university is, but steps towards making that partnership more visible needed to be taken.
“We didn’t want to commit, we didn’t want to be excited by, we wanted to act,” UNBC President Dr. Geoff Payne told My PG Now. “Through conversations with Chief Logan, we landed on today with the acknowledgement that UNBC IS on the traditional territory of the Lheidli T’enneh.”
Payne said this is the first major thing related to Truth and Reconciliation the University has done since the University’s new strategic plan was finalized in the fall.
“Having that plaque will always remind folks to stop, pause, and reflect professionally and personally,” Payne said.
Logan said there has been a steady stream of local groups and organizations hoping to partner with the First Nation and display their own plaque, right from the moment the first one was displayed a little over a year ago.