‘The Folly of Land Acknowledgements’

“There are very good reasons for rejecting the land acknowledgements — on the basis that they are simply wrong.”

“Whenever somebody tells me I am occupying the unceded land belonging to this, that, or another group of ‘Indigenous’ {sic, Aboriginals are ‘Indigenous’ to Mongolia and Siberia} people, I confess, the information quickly recedes from my memory. Many other Canadians have likely experienced something similar. Despite the prevalence of ‘Indigenous’ land acknowledgements these days, most people probably cannot say whose {claimed} land they are allegedly occupying. According to a recent poll, only 25% of Canadians believe they live on unceded ‘Indigenous’ territory {Because most of them don’t. Read the Treaties!}.

‘Whose Land WAS It, Anyway?’

This is caused by tribes filing competing land claims — all based on ‘oral history’ — none of which can be accurately resolved because their culture was unfamiliar with map-making and documentation: 

“Two Manitoba Dene ‘First Nations’ {aboriginal tribes} are turning to the courts after Crown-‘Indigenous’ {Aboriginal} Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett has refused to explain why she cancelled a meeting where a draft land claim agreement was expected to be signed. The Sayisi Dene and Northlands Denesuline ‘First Nations’ have applied for a judicial review by a federal court of Bennett’s decision to shut down negotiations.