Excellent article, and I fully agree. I refuse to participate in this sham. It is socio-political manipulation of the highest order. It absolutely makes people feel guilty, and that is its purpose, despite claims that is about supposed 'reconciliation'. Thank you for speaking against it. I find it ironic that the word 'Canada' is of indigenous origin, yet it is now condemned by these socially destructive activists.
And here’s something I found rather amusing. Using “Turtle Island” to refer to Canada is problematic, according to Linda Manyguns (sorry, linda manyguns; she uses lowercase), associate vice-president of indigenization and decolonization at Mount Royal University. In a news interview on Orange Shirt Day, manyguns said we have to guard against “pan Indianism,” which can be “overwhelming.”
“For Blackfoot peoples here, we don’t have turtles in this territory, and the term Turtle Island is from back east, and people need to be aware of those things, so that this new wave of interest is correct as well.” (Unfortunately the msn video is no longer available online, but I recorded her comments verbatim when I watched it on Sept. 30.)
I guess manyguns doesn’t know that the western painted turtle is native to Alberta, but that’s not the point here. We have already agreed on a name for this country, and as you say, Steven, it derives from an indigenous word! manyguns didn’t offer an alternative that might work better for all FN, Inuit, Metis, and, er, Canadians. But she did seem to enjoy airing that little grievance.
Indeed. Very many place names of provinces, cities, you name it, are of indigenous origin. The first ones I learned in elementary school history were ones such as Hochelaga, Donnaconna and Kanata.
If you do something more that 4000 times you develop a neural pathway to make it become second nature, What they are doing here is a form of mind control and indoctrination. One of the many casinos going on reserves (tax free i think) told me they gave away 600 million in the first 6 years of operation. 600 million can buy a lot of things like educational institutions who get addicted to their money.
My father, who immigrated from Europe back in the late 60's, was always an advocate for Indigenous rights. He was talking about the injustices they have suffered decades before 'reconciliation'. He was ahead of his time, I guess. So , in essence, this is how I grew up, always having respect for our Indigenous communities, and all communities, for that matter. As a former high school teacher, when the land acknowledgments started to take over every meeting, it did not sit well with me at all, not because I lacked compassion for the Indigenous, but because of all the reasons you so eloquently explain in this article. Thank you.
I experienced this for years, and the woke transformation was terrifying. From land acknowledgements to other fake guilt narratives (residential schools, colonization, occupy, genocide, slavery) and other academic mumbo jumbo serves to manipulate and divide the masses.
What terrified me was the hysteria of the woke mob do-gooders who busily blame others, yet failed to see how their actions were worse than those they accuse. Look at the BC teacher who made a simple comment about children in Indian residential schools (which was true) and was escorted out the same day. The woke cult have become the brown shirts of the 1930s.
I will never forget seeing a school library cleaning and throwing away old books. Many were about the holocaust, full of maps, facts and disturbing images of starving people, mass graves. I asked, why are they throwing them away, given their incredible importance. “Oh, we need to make room for the new books.” By removing facts and history and replacing them with comics, manga, gender, I’m not surprised how history has repeated itself.
Everyone around me drinks the kool aid, and seems blind to the frog in slow boiling water. But, like the brave guy in the photo, the more people who wake up and see through the woke propaganda the better!
Land acknowledgements, in the language of understatement, are nothing more than vomitus virtue signaling by sheeple seeking the safety of the herd. It's nothing short of disgusting !!!!!!! For those curious to see someone unafraid to speak their minds I would encourage you to listen to Clare Daly, MEP, when she gets up to speak. It's like a breath of fresh air from the Emerald Isle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOfgVLqDIWg
Christopher Eastman-Nagle, who has commented here in the past, told a wonderful story of a community meeting where participants expressed their dislike of the ‘acknowledgement of country’ (as it’s dubbed Down Under). The following is an excerpt from his public Facebook page from last November (Christopher, I hope you don’t mind my sharing this):
<< The mayor got up and did the usual 'acknowledgement of country'. No one demurred. But when the local ward councilor got up and did the same, someone said something like, "Oh no! Not again!"
The good good councilor retorted that, "There is always one in every group!"
I had been strictly instructed by my wife not to respond negatively to this customary Woke provocation, and had done as I was told, but the invitation to answer the councilor's response was too great. I chimed in, "two!"
Then other voices chimed in, "three!", "four!"....."eight!"
It doesn't sound like much, but likely for the first time in our region, the ideological culture of silence was broken. The magical incantation was punctured. The chimera of Woke hegemonism was contested very publicly.
This incident will get round the Shire. The little world of our region shifted ever so slightly. A question mark appeared.
"You do not speak for me", became "You do not speak for us". >>
Every place in "the world that has...been occupied by another group in history."
"Gratitude for what we have comes to mind! Not guilt."
Another teacher who challenged the ad nauseum ritual (as I also did before being fired): "I pointed out that it does not benefit our fellow Canadians on reserves and simply serves as a self-satisfying display of hypothetical virtue."
He's alone: "So far, I am the only one who remains seated, and we are given the option to stand for the reading of the land acknowledgment.... Even the history teachers, who privately admit to the falsehood of the recited claim, go with the flow!"
Pathetic that most teachers are sheeple, but my faith in the profession is strengthened by this brave write/teacher Invictus. I hope I learn who this is one day so we can compare notes!
These Land Acknowledgements are a fraud and a farce and an insult to a generally captive audience.
Recently a friend of mine who is a long-time member of the Rotary Club rather quietly objected to the reading of this Land Acknowledgement prior to each meeting and was sent a letter of warning saying he would be suspended if he repeated his objection. Most of the Indians who claim ownership of extensive regional lands have no history of ever setting foot on them except maybe on a few rivers where they fished and trapped and set up camps.
It is the Indians who should be acknowledging that the settlers made these lands prosperous and livable for them and it is the settlers who continue to support the 4.8% of the population who are Indigenous far, far in excess of what their numbers justify.
As Bill Maher suggests, unless there is a plan by the settlers to abandon the lands that we developed and urbanized for them over centuries , we need to shut the hell up with these acknowledgements.
I just attended a classical music event in Toronto which opened with a land acknowledgement which of course made me cringe. Both the Shaw Festival and the Canadian Opera Company's programs have land acks as well. I would love to see a movement, if someone knowledgeable about pressure campaigns could organize it, in which people could let these cultural icons know that probably a good chunk of their audiences find these statements to be historically inaccurate and phony. For example, how about politely asking Shaw and the COC to have two starting times: One the time at which the land acknowledgement is made, and one following the land ack? Petition? Facebook group? Any ideas? Oh -- and the Shaw brochure for 2024 denies the existence of Canada in their land ack, calling this country Turtle Island. Offended, anyone? I am.
Excellent article, and I fully agree. I refuse to participate in this sham. It is socio-political manipulation of the highest order. It absolutely makes people feel guilty, and that is its purpose, despite claims that is about supposed 'reconciliation'. Thank you for speaking against it. I find it ironic that the word 'Canada' is of indigenous origin, yet it is now condemned by these socially destructive activists.
And here’s something I found rather amusing. Using “Turtle Island” to refer to Canada is problematic, according to Linda Manyguns (sorry, linda manyguns; she uses lowercase), associate vice-president of indigenization and decolonization at Mount Royal University. In a news interview on Orange Shirt Day, manyguns said we have to guard against “pan Indianism,” which can be “overwhelming.”
“For Blackfoot peoples here, we don’t have turtles in this territory, and the term Turtle Island is from back east, and people need to be aware of those things, so that this new wave of interest is correct as well.” (Unfortunately the msn video is no longer available online, but I recorded her comments verbatim when I watched it on Sept. 30.)
I guess manyguns doesn’t know that the western painted turtle is native to Alberta, but that’s not the point here. We have already agreed on a name for this country, and as you say, Steven, it derives from an indigenous word! manyguns didn’t offer an alternative that might work better for all FN, Inuit, Metis, and, er, Canadians. But she did seem to enjoy airing that little grievance.
Indeed. Very many place names of provinces, cities, you name it, are of indigenous origin. The first ones I learned in elementary school history were ones such as Hochelaga, Donnaconna and Kanata.
If you do something more that 4000 times you develop a neural pathway to make it become second nature, What they are doing here is a form of mind control and indoctrination. One of the many casinos going on reserves (tax free i think) told me they gave away 600 million in the first 6 years of operation. 600 million can buy a lot of things like educational institutions who get addicted to their money.
My father, who immigrated from Europe back in the late 60's, was always an advocate for Indigenous rights. He was talking about the injustices they have suffered decades before 'reconciliation'. He was ahead of his time, I guess. So , in essence, this is how I grew up, always having respect for our Indigenous communities, and all communities, for that matter. As a former high school teacher, when the land acknowledgments started to take over every meeting, it did not sit well with me at all, not because I lacked compassion for the Indigenous, but because of all the reasons you so eloquently explain in this article. Thank you.
Great article here is a suggestion and that is in these meetings start calling those people Comrade
I experienced this for years, and the woke transformation was terrifying. From land acknowledgements to other fake guilt narratives (residential schools, colonization, occupy, genocide, slavery) and other academic mumbo jumbo serves to manipulate and divide the masses.
What terrified me was the hysteria of the woke mob do-gooders who busily blame others, yet failed to see how their actions were worse than those they accuse. Look at the BC teacher who made a simple comment about children in Indian residential schools (which was true) and was escorted out the same day. The woke cult have become the brown shirts of the 1930s.
I will never forget seeing a school library cleaning and throwing away old books. Many were about the holocaust, full of maps, facts and disturbing images of starving people, mass graves. I asked, why are they throwing them away, given their incredible importance. “Oh, we need to make room for the new books.” By removing facts and history and replacing them with comics, manga, gender, I’m not surprised how history has repeated itself.
Everyone around me drinks the kool aid, and seems blind to the frog in slow boiling water. But, like the brave guy in the photo, the more people who wake up and see through the woke propaganda the better!
Land acknowledgements, in the language of understatement, are nothing more than vomitus virtue signaling by sheeple seeking the safety of the herd. It's nothing short of disgusting !!!!!!! For those curious to see someone unafraid to speak their minds I would encourage you to listen to Clare Daly, MEP, when she gets up to speak. It's like a breath of fresh air from the Emerald Isle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOfgVLqDIWg
Christopher Eastman-Nagle, who has commented here in the past, told a wonderful story of a community meeting where participants expressed their dislike of the ‘acknowledgement of country’ (as it’s dubbed Down Under). The following is an excerpt from his public Facebook page from last November (Christopher, I hope you don’t mind my sharing this):
<< The mayor got up and did the usual 'acknowledgement of country'. No one demurred. But when the local ward councilor got up and did the same, someone said something like, "Oh no! Not again!"
The good good councilor retorted that, "There is always one in every group!"
I had been strictly instructed by my wife not to respond negatively to this customary Woke provocation, and had done as I was told, but the invitation to answer the councilor's response was too great. I chimed in, "two!"
Then other voices chimed in, "three!", "four!"....."eight!"
It doesn't sound like much, but likely for the first time in our region, the ideological culture of silence was broken. The magical incantation was punctured. The chimera of Woke hegemonism was contested very publicly.
This incident will get round the Shire. The little world of our region shifted ever so slightly. A question mark appeared.
"You do not speak for me", became "You do not speak for us". >>
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
What a great quote!
About this sterling article:
Every place in "the world that has...been occupied by another group in history."
"Gratitude for what we have comes to mind! Not guilt."
Another teacher who challenged the ad nauseum ritual (as I also did before being fired): "I pointed out that it does not benefit our fellow Canadians on reserves and simply serves as a self-satisfying display of hypothetical virtue."
He's alone: "So far, I am the only one who remains seated, and we are given the option to stand for the reading of the land acknowledgment.... Even the history teachers, who privately admit to the falsehood of the recited claim, go with the flow!"
Pathetic that most teachers are sheeple, but my faith in the profession is strengthened by this brave write/teacher Invictus. I hope I learn who this is one day so we can compare notes!
These Land Acknowledgements are a fraud and a farce and an insult to a generally captive audience.
Recently a friend of mine who is a long-time member of the Rotary Club rather quietly objected to the reading of this Land Acknowledgement prior to each meeting and was sent a letter of warning saying he would be suspended if he repeated his objection. Most of the Indians who claim ownership of extensive regional lands have no history of ever setting foot on them except maybe on a few rivers where they fished and trapped and set up camps.
It is the Indians who should be acknowledging that the settlers made these lands prosperous and livable for them and it is the settlers who continue to support the 4.8% of the population who are Indigenous far, far in excess of what their numbers justify.
As Bill Maher suggests, unless there is a plan by the settlers to abandon the lands that we developed and urbanized for them over centuries , we need to shut the hell up with these acknowledgements.
Agree. Very dangerous situation.
I hadn't realized that things were this bad! Keep fighting the fight but don't lose your job. You're needed inside the system.
Maybe you should offer a mock salute. This would bring dramatic, embarrassing attention to the brainwashing effect of this false narrative.
amen
I just attended a classical music event in Toronto which opened with a land acknowledgement which of course made me cringe. Both the Shaw Festival and the Canadian Opera Company's programs have land acks as well. I would love to see a movement, if someone knowledgeable about pressure campaigns could organize it, in which people could let these cultural icons know that probably a good chunk of their audiences find these statements to be historically inaccurate and phony. For example, how about politely asking Shaw and the COC to have two starting times: One the time at which the land acknowledgement is made, and one following the land ack? Petition? Facebook group? Any ideas? Oh -- and the Shaw brochure for 2024 denies the existence of Canada in their land ack, calling this country Turtle Island. Offended, anyone? I am.
https://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/2277970-Acknowledgement-Of-Country
Maybe you should salute. This would bring poignant, embarrassing attention to the brainwashing effect of this false statement.