After consulting with the Skagway Traditional Council, Mayor Sam Bass has settled on the wording for the Land Acknowledgment Statement that will be read at the beginning of each meeting.
When Skagway Mayor Sam Bass took office, he stopped reading the municipality’s land acknowledgement at the beginning of each meeting. The acknowledgement was first instituted by Mayor Andrew Cremata in 2021.
Bass said he wanted time to think about the statement and make it his own. He consulted with Skagway Traditional Council to fine tune the new acknowledgment, which he introduced at the Dec . 7 assembly meeting.
Bass: “With respect of their historical and present stewardship of this great land, we acknowledge that we are conducting business on the traditional lands of the Chilkoot/Tlingit people.”
STC Chair Jaime Bricker described the purpose of a land acknowledgment.
Bass: “…land acknowledgement is a statement that recognizes the indigenous ownership of an area, and the special relationship that that those indigenous people maintain with their land. It can also be a tool for healing and reconciliation between indigenous peoples and their non-Alaskan Native community…”
While many are spoken, acknowledgements can take the form of a statement on a website or receipt. This year’s Skagway visitor guide will include its first land acknowledgement. For Bricker, it feels good to hear and see the acknowledgments becoming a part of community life.
Bricker:“I am incredibly proud of our local leadership for choosing to acknowledge that relationship between indigenous peoples and our land. It’s not something that they have to do, by any means. And the fact that they’re choosing to, is an honorable decision in my opinion. Our Skagway School Board has done it the last couple of years, as have our leaders at the assembly level. So, it’s pretty special to me.”
