ATHABASCA – Aspen View Public Schools (AVPS) is looking for more ways to get its students voices into the board meetings in the new year, including having a student deliver each meetings land acknowledgement.
During the Dec. 12 regular board meeting, trustees discussed the possibility of having a student deliver the brief statement before each meeting which recognizes and reaffirms the history of the land the division operates on.
“We visit a very small handful of schools each year, but I think it would be meaningful … to get a recording of a student from each school to do it throughout the year,” said board chair Candy Nikipelo.
Aspen View visits half of its 11 schools each year, alternating between the northern and southern halves of the division, and in-school visits are always accompanied by a presentation from the principal, as well as students who share their perspectives with the board.
Trustees, including Dennis MacNeil, are hoping the experience would help students understand the importance of land acknowledgements, possibly with a personal touch.
“The intent is to bring a clear understanding of the whole concept of a land acknowledgement to students as well,” said MacNeil. “It shouldn’t just be a student reading our land acknowledgement, it should be an exercise where, in the school, students are working on an acknowledgement that is specific to them.”
Land acknowledgements were one of the recommendations put forward by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report in 2015; at its most basic, a land acknowledgement recognizes the land and the Indigenous people who lived on it prior to colonization.
Each organization makes its own acknowledgement — Aspen View’s recognizes the Indigenous nations that walked the land for thousands of years before, including the Cree, Blackfoot, and Dene, as well as the Métis and Inuit.
The process is not without criticism; opponents argue the practice can quickly become meaningless if the acknowledgement becomes just another item to check off a list before a meeting can start.
Aspen View’s recordings will start to play at the beginning of the second semester, and trustees are hoping to have the recordings for their remaining four meetings that are held at the divisional office.
“We can leave it up to the students, if they chose to script their own, fine, if they choose to use Aspen View’s official one, that’s okay too,” said Nikipelo.
“We understand schools are a busy place and organizing all that might not be easy.”
