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Recognizing October 12, 2026 as “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” in the City of Philadelphia, honoring and commemorating the achievements, traditions, and contributions of American Indians, also known as “Indigenous peoples”; and affirming the City’s commitment to historical truth, cultural respect, education, and partnership with Indigenous communities.
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WHEREAS, The City Council of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, located in the United States of Americas, recognizes that the continent known as the Americas includes North, Central, South America and Caribbean Islands, has been inhabited by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years, and acknowledges that the city of Philadelphia is built upon the ancestral homelands of the Lenape (Delaware Tribes)- a territory known as Lenapehoking (covering part of PA, NY, DE and all of NJ); and
WHEREAS, By the late 18th century, most Lenape peoples were forcibly removed from their homelands to Indian territory in Oklahoma and Wisconsin in the United States, and Ontario, Canada. Today, there are three federally recognized Lenape (Delaware Tribes) in the United States and two in Canada that assert their presence and heritage to the region: the Delaware Nation in Anadarko, Oklahoma; the Delaware Tribe of Indians in Bartlesville, Oklahoma; the Stockbridge-Munsee Community in Bowler, Wisconsin; the Munsee-Delaware Nation; and the Delaware Nation at Moraviantown in Ontario, Canada. Furthermore, Lenape communities also remain within the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, alongside the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, where they continue to uphold their cultural identity; and
WHEREAS, The United States currently recognizes 575 federally recognized Tribal Nations and Alaska Native entities, each possessing a government-to-government relationship with the United States and inherent rights of self-government; and
WHEREAS, Government entities today bear responsibility, as affirmed and outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of I...
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