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Council News: Aboriginal acknowledgement added to council agendas

Oak Bay continues conversations with Songhees and Esquimalt nations

Oak Bay scored a $2,500 Union of BC Municipalities grant that will go toward continuing conversations with the Songhees and Esquimalt nations.

The district received a letter from the UBCM approving community to community forum funding.

“Which allows us to work with the First Nations, which we’ve already started,” said Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen. “We continue working on that relationship.”

The announcement came the same night Oak Bay added a historical link to its meeting documents.

Meeting agendas headers include the date, time and location of meetings.

In Oak Bay they recently added the notice that council and committee meetings are video recorded and Monday, they added a historical link.

The new segment of agenda headers reads: “We acknowledge that the land on which we gather is the traditional territory of the Coast and Straits Salish peoples. Specifically we recognize the Lekwungen speaking people, known today as the Songhees and Esquimalt nations, and that their historical connections to these lands continue today.”