Before the puck drops and before 18,000 fans sing “O Canada” in unison at Edmonton Oilers home games, the audience hears from Chief Willie Littlechild.
A message from Littlechild plays on Rogers Place video screens, welcoming the crowd to Treaty 6 territory, the homelands of Métis and Inuit and the ancestral territory of the Cree, Dene, Blackfoot, Saulteaux and Nakota Sioux.
“The recognition of our history on this land is an act of reconciliation, and we honor those who walk with us,” Littlechild says, ending with “kinanaskomitin” — thank you, in Cree.
The land recognition video, a tradition that began in 2021, is getting major airtime across North America with the Oilers on national television in the U.S. and Canada in the Stanley Cup Final against Florida. Littlechild called it a significant step, but it is only one piece of the Oilers’ outreach to First Nations and the Indigenous community in central and northern Alberta that has grown significantly over the …