Indigenous and Native Land Acknowledgement

Here at Cascadia FC, we acknowledge the Cascadia region; the land we sit and reside on is the traditional land of the indigenous people that came before us. We are on this land because of colonists and settlers' forced removal of its traditional peoples. As settlers and guests, we recognize the strong and diverse Native communities in our region today.

From Tribes, local and distant, we want to offer respect and gratitude for their stewardship of these lands—past, present, and future.

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Portland

The Portland Metro area rests on traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, and the Molalla. Along with many other tribes, they made their homes along the Columbia River, creating permanent communities and seasonal encampments. 

Due to the strategic and systemic efforts to eradicate Indigenous peoples from these lands and history, many other tribes and nations traditionally lived, hunted, and fished in what is now Multnomah County and Oregon that are not collectively remembered.

Listed below are links to history and resources on those native peoples. The Portland Parks Foundation provided the links below:

• The State of Oregon’s Overview of the Nine tribes
• “The Native American Community in Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile”
• “Leading With Tradition: Native American Community in the Portland Metropolitan Area”
• Provided by Portland’s Native American Community Advisory Council
• “First Peoples in the Portland Basin

Seattle

King County and the Seattle Metro area rest on the Coast Salish peoples of this land. The land touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Duwamish, Puyallup, Suquamish, Tulalip, and Muckleshoot nations.

At this event, we gather to hear a reading of one of the founding documents of the United States, the Constitution, which was written in Philadelphia over five months in 1787. We acknowledge that the U.S. Constitution was written and signed on the homelands of the Lenape people. These indigenous people, forced from their homelands, were under threat in the 18th century due to European colonization.

Listed below are links to history and resources on the native peoples of this land:

• List of Native Theaters and Theatermakers 
• Honor Native Land: A Guide and Call to Acknowledgement 
• Interactive map of Native lands 
• Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington State (curriculum) 

Vancouver

Before colonial settlers arrived, the shared territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), which is now also known as the West End of Vancouver, consisted of abundant forest with some of the tallest old-growth trees in North America.

With the arrival of settlers, they logged the area to create a new residential site. The settlers established this colonial settlement on unceded land. As part of situating the House and the City of Vancouver's history, we acknowledge that we operate on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded shared territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh.

Listed below are links to the history and resources of the First Nations on this land:

• Assembly of First Nations
• Congress of Aboriginal Peoples
• Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
• Métis National Council
• National Aboriginal Circle Against Family Violence

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