The Fairbanks City Council declined on Monday to approve an ordinance that would require a formal “land acknowledgment” at the beginning of every regular council meeting, marking the second time in three years the body has rejected such a proposal.
Ordinance No. 6314, sponsored by Council members Valerie Therrien and Crystal Tidwell, would require the oral reciting of a confession that the land in Fairbanks belongs to indigenous peoples whose traditional territories include the Fairbanks area. Therrien and Tidwell are registered Democrats.
Currently, a version of the acknowledgment is displayed on the chamber wall, and council members may optionally include it in their own remarks.
The measure was pulled from the consent agenda by member Lonny Marney, a Republican who raised concerns about the ordinance before it could move forward to a public hearing. Following debate, the council voted to halt its progression.
Opponents of the ordinance cited concerns that a mandatory acknowledgment is divisive and questioned whether it might open the door to similar requests from other identity groups, which could complicate and delay council meetings.
In Anchorage, the “colonizer confession” is formalized. Since 2020, the Anchorage Assembly has opened its meetings with a formal land acknowledgment recognizing the Dena’ina Athabascans as the traditional stewards of the land.
In March 2025, Assemblymember Meg Zaletel introduced a new ordinance to have the acknowledgment permanently displayed in Assembly Chambers alongside the American and municipal flags.
The Anchorage School Board adopted a formal colonizer confession policy in 2022 requiring statements to be read at a variety of events, including board meetings, graduations, and weekly school gatherings. The initiative was developed in partnership with the Native Village of Eklutna, population 70, and the school district’s Indigenous Education Department.
Some University of Alaska campuses use a colonizer confession, and the Juneau School Board adopted the required confession in 2021, to recognize the Tlingit people at the beginning of full board meetings as the true owners of the land.
