Just not in a good way, because it’s untrue, malicious, and hypocritical. Also pervasive in the public sector as the revolt of the elites continues. Hence, some meddlesome government body “sits on the traditional lands of the Haudenosaunee & Anishinabek peoples, and we want to thank the Indigenous people for their continued care and protection of All of Our Relations on this shared land.”
If you think truth matters, and if not, God save us, British rule put an end to chronic low-scale warfare, complete with torture, enslavement, and cannibalism, and bestowed peace, order, and good government. It was highly imperfect, including bigoted denial of the right to vote. But to portray Sir John A. Macdonald as genocidal and the Mohawks as pacifists cannot lead us anywhere but into darkness.
As G.K. Chesterton wrote, “all feeble spirits naturally live in the future, because it is featureless; it is a soft job… It requires real courage to face the past… full of facts which cannot be got over; of men certainly wiser than we and of things done which we could not do.” But people who preen about unceded land aren’t just claiming if they’d been there in 1867, or 1667, they’d dramatically have outperformed the clods who did stumble onto the historical stage. They’re pretending they did, so brilliantly that aboriginals still own the land we’re sitting on, sneering at them.
Which brings me to the issue of hypocrisy. Every time I sit with clenched teeth through one of these land acknowledgements, and by the way, I have discovered that I am far from alone, I want to leap up and shout, “If you think your building belongs to someone else, what’s your plan for immediately giving it back?”
If you went up to some aboriginal and said, “Hey, buddy, here’s your stolen bicycle,” he or she would certainly, and rightly, anticipate your handing it over at once. To pedal smugly off, leaving them on foot instead, would evoke outrage. But how else can one describe the monotonous, sanctimonious insistence that Ottawa, Victoria, and indeed all of Canada belong to them but can’t have it nyah nyah?
If you really think it’s theirs, you have a binding obligation to return it. And in ye badde olde days, a key function of police officers was to locate, seize, and restore stolen property. Nowadays, the GG droned, “As police officers, or as leaders and supporters of those in uniform, you must fulfill many roles – from social worker to first responder, and from conflict mediator to expert communicator.” But never mind, “Daddy is a cop, son. He arrests bad men.”
Today, once you strap on the badge, pistol, pepper spray, truncheon, handcuffs, and scary vest, “You support your communities through the toughest times – whether it’s helping accident victims, assisting families in crisis, comforting those affected by violence, or addressing issues related to drug use and mental health.” Which arguably includes providing counselling and support to aboriginals dismayed that we’re openly saying it’s their land, then not giving it back because “Our society is diverse and constantly evolving,” especially when it comes to conceptions of truth and honour.
It won’t do. If we want to be a country we can and should be proud of, then either give the land back or stop saying it’s stolen.
