Lambton's warden will start reading a traditional Indigenous territory acknowledgement at regular county council meetings Wednesday.
Aamjiwnaang First Nation Chief Chris Plain welcomes the gesture.
Aamjiwnaang Chief Chris Plain. (Photo courtesy of BWHF via Facebook)
"I think it will show some leadership," he said. "Land acknowledgements have been around forever. When we have First Nation meetings in other people's territories, we always acknowledge the land that we're on."
Former Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne started reading land acknowledgements at events in 2011 when she was the minister of aboriginal affairs.
"I think it's just something that picked up," said Chief Plain. "I don't think it's anything that the First Nations requested or demanded, but I do believe that it goes to show that the government is willing to acknowledge those who've walked on the land prior to the contact."
Chief Plain said he gets a lot of calls from agencies seeking assistance with wording.
"They want to be correct in whose land they're acknowledging. So, I've been sharing some drafts, and telling them to utilize others that are online if they want to, but it's nothing that First Nations are expecting, but I do believe it's nice to hear."
The decision was reconsidered September 1, and council agreed the warden would read the acknowledgement at the beginning of each regular meeting starting in October.