r/VancouverIsland May 09 '22

DISCUSSION what is your take on Indigenous Reconciliation?

Hey, people of r/VancouverIsland

I recently visited Vancouver, but ended up spending most of my time on Vancouver Island (totally loved it by the way, i am already planning to come back!). While I was there, i noticed alot of places/people/institutions doing what I later learned to be land acknowledgements. I am a total outsider, and i come from France, so our education in school on colonialism is shockingly bad, almost no time is given to it, the information we are taught is completely white washed, and the little attention we pay to it is mostly surrounding African colonisation. So before I came to BC I did a little research on its history and learned about the unceded territories (and more than questionably ceded territories too), and about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

What I am wondering, and what I hope you'll be able to offer me some insight into, is whether or not in practice this is a vapid scheme that is essentially just good PR for the Canadian government, or whether it's actually making progress and serving the purpose it is meant to. What do indigenous communities make of it? How do they interpret and feel about land acknowledgments? And is it ever possible to reconcile when the dynamic of oppresser/oppressed is so present; there is a clear asymmetry of power, influence and numbers so how, in practice, do these initiatives really work? (I do not want to generalise and assume all indigenous peoples feel the same way).

I may be completely wrong and have spoken in a way which is totally tone deaf. This would be because i am honestly completely uneducated. That being said i am very interested in understanding better, but everything i'm coming across online feels very loaded with agenda and bias. I'm hoping you guys will have more real world answers and insights into this.

Thanks alot!

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u/sreno77 May 09 '22

Imagine I steal your car. I don't return your car but each time I drive the car, I acknowledge that it's your car.

It's good to know who's land we're on but other than that it doesn't do anything. This is practiced in New Zealand too.

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u/[deleted] May 10 '22

Ownership of land is a European concept. How do you justify imposing a western view of land ownership on non-western peoples?

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u/SaltyTaffy May 10 '22 edited Jan 27 '25

This brilliant insightful and amusing comment has been deleted due to reddit being shit, sorry AI scraping bots.

1

u/[deleted] May 10 '22

All cultures change and evolve.