Pride Toronto is apologizing over a land acknowledgment posted during Sunday’s Pride Parade that failed to make mention of any Indigenous groups whatsoever.

In a statement to the Star Monday, Pride Toronto executive director Olivia Nuamah recognized the organization’s failure to display an adequate land acknowledgment and apologized for the wording of a sign posted at the parade under the bolded header “Land acknowledgment.”

“What is that? Let us journey together,” the sign read. “Take a moment to connect with the land that you are currently standing on. Now introduce yourself spiritually; build a relationship with Mother Earth that provides for all our relations. No matter what part of Mother Earth our family originates from, we all have a relationship and a responsibility to the land. Let’s build a healthy relationship together,” it concluded, ending with the phrase “Chi Miigwech,” an Ojibwe expression of gratitude.

Land acknowledgments are statements typically read out or displayed prior to gatherings, ceremonies and events in order to recognize the traditional territory of Indigenous peoples.

“This was also an opportunity to educate settler attendees on land acknowledgments and reconciliation responsibilities and we recognize that we could have done better and we will do better,” Nuamah said.

After an image of the sign was posted to social media, several people criticized Pride for failing to acknowledge the Indigenous groups for whom the city is traditional territory.

“Wow. Let’s strip land acknowledgements of all their deliberately provocative and unsettling characteristics,” wrote author Chelsea Vowel.

“A land acknowledgement is an acknowledgement that we are on land,” said author Waubgeshig Rice, mocking the non-specific language of the Pride sign.

Nuamah added: “Pride Toronto would like to take full responsibility of this and apologize to our 2SLGBTQQIA+ Indigenous communities, and to acknowledge that there is more work to be done in our efforts to be intersectional, radically anti-racist, and anti-oppressive.”

Several Toronto organizations post land acknowledgments that recognize the traditional territory of Indigenous groups.

“Land acknowledgments mark a small and important step in the process of reconciliation and building a positive relationship with Indigenous peoples,” reads a land acknowledgment posted to the city of Toronto website marking that the city is the “the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.”

Read more:

‘Doesn’t it make you proud of this city’: Toronto’s Pride Parade a crowded but joyful affair

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