What language should I use to acknowledge the history of SU's land and to respect indigenous peoples?

Last year, Associate Professor Christina Roberts and Diane Tomhave of the Indigenous Peoples Institute and Fr. Patrick Twohy, S.J., collaborated with Campus Ministry to create language that can be used at the beginning of campus events to recognize the history and people, lands and waters of this Duwamish dxʷdəwʔabš aboriginal territory. 

The following statement is offered as a way for our community to recognize this land and our history; to honor the people past and present who belong to this place; to create common and consistent language for our events and ceremonies; and to have language that was crafted with care and wisdom. 

As we begin our gathering, I (we) respectfully acknowledge that our event today is taking place on Duwamish aboriginal territory. 

I (We) pay respect to Duwamish Elders past and present and extend that respect to their descendants and to all Indigenous people. 

To acknowledge this land is to recognize its longer history and our place in that history; it is to recognize these lands and waters and their significance for the peoples who lived and continue to live in this region, whose practices and spiritualties were and are tied to the land and the water, and whose lives continue to enrich and develop in relationship to the land, waters and other inhabitants today.