Acadia Divinity College Unveils Land Acknowledgment Plaque

The 2015 report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada calls the church and educational institutions to action. In response, Acadia Divinity College (ADC) has been learning to walk in a posture of reconciliation with those to whom the Creator entrusted the land where the College is settled. The College community has been challenged and changed since 2014, through its partnership with NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community (NAIITS).

Corresponding with the recent opening of the refurbished building, the President and the Board of Trustees of ADC decided to ceremonially recognize the College’s place on the land on which it sits. In this way, the College community acknowledges, in a tangible way, that it is there by the welcome of the people of Mi’kma’ki. This action also coheres with the apology and actions that were endorsed by the August 2019 assembly of the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada at its annual conference, Oasis.

A ceremony of acknowledgement took place during ADC’s Hayward Lectures in October, with special lecturer Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley, a Keetoowah Cherokee (legal descendent) teacher, poet, activist, former pastor, missiologist, and historian. To mark the occasion, Acadia Divinity College unveiled a plaque on October 23, 2019, that recognizes that the land on which the College sits is unceded territory of the Mi’kmaw people. The College was honoured to have local Mi’kmaw elder, and Acadia University Senate member, Carolyn Landry, help with the unveiling, along with her sister, Neenie Landry. Prior to the unveiling, Dr. Danny Zacharias, the Associate Professor of New Testament Studies at ADC, as well as the Liaison to NAIITS, read a letter from Dr. Terry LeBlanc, Director of NAIITS. His letter included these words, “We have worked together on this historic land recognition, an acknowledgement that is not simply articulated as a nod to a distant past, now understood dierently. Rather it is a clear commitment that the present and future must be lived in a more honest and mutually arming way.” Dr. Anna Robbins, President of ADC, remarked, “This is the beginning of the journey as the College commits to learning to walk well with Indigenous people in the local region and beyond.”

The plaque is prominently located in the main lobby of Acadia Divinity College and will continue to remind everyone of the College’s recognition and gratitude. It reads: