On Wed, 25 Feb 2026 22:42:14 -0500, Rhino
<
no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
I don't live in Toronto but I participated in an online seminar put on
by our region about diabetic foot care and had to sit through a land >acknowledgement, even though our region is on property legally bought
from the local Indians; the land ownership is not contested by anyone as
far as I know. But I still see articles about proposed building projects
in our area where "indigenous groups" are carefully consulted to make
sure THEY don't mind if a new building is 30 storeys high; if they do,
that objection seems to be taken more seriously than others. It's
completely ludicrous.
I live in a municipality built on the edge of the ocean but rising to
the mountains on the N side. While pre-contact there's evidence they
climbed to the peaks, there's no evidence they ever LIVED anywhere
more than a 1/4 mile from the shoreline. And that 90% of our town is
beyond where the evidence shows they ever lived.
Nevertheless the entire territory is claimed and we also have the "acknowledgements". I listen to McMaster alumni Zoom sessions and they
also do so (though being 2500 miles away from where I live, it's a
different lot being 'acknowledged' than locally) What REALLY burned me
was a year ago when a non-member visiting my Toastmasters club
suggested 'acknowledgements' and without a board vote they were in the
next week's agenda and have been ever since.
Nobody's ever questioned it but I've shown my protest by closing my
eyes during the 'acknowledgement' and keeping them closed until it's
done.
The situation is rather different in BC than Ontario since Ontario was checkerboarded by treaties all ceding land whereas at most 15% of BC
is covered by these. Bear in mind that Ontario is mostly flat whereas
BC is heavily mountainous (more so than Oregon or California) so much
of the land CAN'T have been inhabited in pre-modern times and has only
been inhabited at all in the post WW2 era.
There's a rather important court case going on in Richmond, BC which
will probably set precedents for all of Canada eventually as for the
first time clear title to fee simple owned land is being called into
question. (That's the type of land that most homes and businesses are
built on)
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