Land Acknowledgement

UAS Ketchikan's Land Acknowledgement

UAS Ketchikan Acknowledgment: We are on Lingít Aaní (Tlingit land) and we would like to acknowledge and give honor and respect to the traditional landowners, the Taantʼá Ḵwáan and Saanya Ḵwáan Tlingit elders, and past, present and future generations. We honor the relationships that exist between Lingít, X̱aadas, and Ts’msyen peoples, and their sovereign relationships to their lands, their languages, their ancestors, and future generations. The areas of land that UAS-Ketchikan serve include but are not limited to: Revillagigado Island, Prince of Wales and the surrounding territory such as areas as far south as Kanagunut Island to the southern shores up Portland Canal, Misty Fjords to the head waters of the Unuk river and west to Cleveland Peninsula including the smaller southern islands outlying Ketchikan such as Pennock, Gravina, Annette, Duke, Cat, Village and Dog Islands. These are the ancestral lands of the Taantʼá Ḵwáan and Saanya Ḵwáan Tlingit. Additionally, we would like to thank the Ketchikan Indian Community, Metlakatla Indian Community and Organized Village of Saxman for their ongoing commitment to the education of their next generation as Lingít, X̱aadas, and Ts’msyen people are a part of the land and have been since time immemorial. We acknowledge that we arrived here by listening to the peoples/elders/lessons from the past and these stories carry us as we weave a healthier world for future generations.

Special thanks to Irene Dundas, KIC Cultural Heritage Specialist, for her assistance in helping craft this acknowledgement.