Across Canada, land acknowledgements have become routine. They’re read at schools, city council meetings, concerts, and even hockey games. They are presented as simple statements of truth — a gesture of respect, not politics. But as we’ve seen in recent court decisions and local developments, that claim no longer holds up. Land acknowledgements are political by nature and by consequence.

The recent decision from the B.C. Supreme Court involving the Cowichan Tribes makes that clear. For the first time, a Canadian court ruled that Aboriginal title can exist even on private land — a concept known as title. That means a First Nation can hold a prior and senior right over land that an individual or business may have purchased generations ago. In this case, the court ruled that some of those pr

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