Quinte West council met Monday night to discuss the possibility of either a week dedicated to Indigenous recognition or an official land acknowledgement before meetings.
QUINTE WEST – Quinte West council is considering adding an official acknowledgement of Indigenous land at the beginning of its meetings, or designating a week for recognition of Indigenous ancestors. But at Monday night’s meeting, councillors decided they weren’t ready to act on the idea yet.
More research needs to be done before designating the week of Nov. 11 to recognize Indigenous ancestors who lived in the area or having a land acknowledgement before every meeting, council decided.
Michael Kotsovos was one of the councillors expressing support for the option of designating a full week to Indigenous recognition: “We can honour them as we do similarly to other groups by proclaiming a week – or a month, for that matter.”
Kotsovos said he isn’t sure a land acknowledgement would be approved, since city council recently stopped the practice of having prayer before meetings.
But other councillors disagreed with passing the motion right away.
“I think there is a lot of research left to be done before we can make a decision,” Coun. Don Kuntze said, though he added that other municipalities, including Prince Edward County, have already implemented an Indigenous land acknowledgement before council meetings.
Coun. Terry Cassidy asked for a time limit for making a decision, but Mayor Jim Harrison said he did not want to put a date on it.
Coun. Allan DeWitt agreed, saying, “I don’t think any fixed hard date is fair, especially during COVID times.”
Cassidy said the municipality is making headway with a decision on Indigenous recognition.
“Most of our neighbours and most operating authorities around us have already dealt with this and done this. So it’s not a forever task – there’s been good work that’s been done so far.”
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