City of Brampton celebrates National Indigenous Peoples Day

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Published June 22, 2020 at 3:33 pm

Although the land acknowledgement is commonly read at the beginning of many community meetings and council meetings in the City of Brampton, City Councillor Charmaine Williams felt that it was not

Although the land acknowledgement is commonly read at the beginning of many community meetings and council meetings in the City of Brampton, City Councillor Charmaine Williams felt that it was not reaching enough people. 

Back in March, Williams presented a motion at a committee of council meeting to ask for staff to report on the possible implementation and community consultation process. 

“We know that no more than 130 people watch council meetings. And it is rare to have more than 50 people attending community meetings,” said Williams, back in March.

“But throughout the year, hundreds of thousands of visitors go to our parks, libraries, community centres. We had 5,000 people come every night to the Jurassic Square to watch the Raptors NBA finals,” she said, adding that the acknowledgement could have been posted on the big screen.

Brampton City Councillor Charmaine Williams felt that land acknowledgements should go beyond being read at the beginning of council meetings and community events and believed it was not enough to recognize the historic relationship between the Indigenous community and the City of Brampton.

“I think we should post the land acknowledgement on the City-owned land where hundreds of thousands of people will actually see it,” said Williams.

Williams presented the motion at a meeting on March 4, 2020, and the motion was later passed unanimously.

“In March of this year, I put forward a motion to have a land acknowledgment posted on all City of Brampton property. The motion passed unanimously,” said Williams in a Facebook post on June 21, 2020, Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada.

The City of Brampton celebrates the heritage, diverse cultures and outstanding achievements of First Nations, Inuit and Métis each year on National Indigenous Peoples Day.​​​

This year, the celebrations took place online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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