Should public bodies, like city councils or universities, make Indigenous land acknowledgements? – Castanet

Apr 9, 2025

A lawsuit launched by several UBC professors undermines Truth and Reconciliation, according to the Chiefs of the Syilx Okanagan Nation.

The petition filed Monday on behalf of several professors and graduate students on both Vancouver and Okanagan campuses, calls for the school to stop engaging in Indigenous land acknowledgements as well as what they deem to be political activity that limits academic freedom and violates legislation requiring UBC to be non-political.

“The use of the term ’unceded’ is inherently political,” the petition said.

“The declaration that land is unceded is often considered synonymous or closely affiliated in meaning with the assertion that the territory of Canada is ’stolen land’ and that the speaker, at least to some degree, and in this respect, does not recognize Canada as a lawful or legitimate state.”