B.C. chiefs tell MP Aaron Gunn to ‘chillax’ about land acknowledgments

The chiefs of four British Columbia First Nations have told Conservative member of Parliament Aaron Gunn to “chillax” after he criticized land acknowledgments spoken before public events.

In a joint statement, the chiefs from the Tla’amin, Homalco, K’omoks and Klahoose nations said that “harmless” land acknowledgments only recognized “the history of the place” where people held events.

The nations said that land acknowledgments “have never seized private property, cancelled a mortgage, repossessed a pickup truck or altered a single title deed anywhere in Canada.”

“Chiefs from four First Nations communities are urging the public to please approach Aaron Gunn with no caution whatsoever,” their statement issued on Wednesday said.

“He is completely harmless, though momentarily unsettled by the alarming possibility that someone might acknowledge the land before a meeting.”

It said the chiefs “had two words for the MP — chillax, bud.”

Gunn, the MP for North Island-Powell River, had criticized the practice of land acknowledgments on Monday, saying on social media that the federal government should stop making them if it “truly believes in the private property rights of Canadians.”

Gunn said in his statement that a land acknowledgment “reinforces the radical and dangerous legal concept that most Canadians live on ‘stolen land.'”

“This is Canada,” he said. “One country. For all Canadians.”

He was commenting in the wake of a rights acknowledgment between Ottawa and the Musqueam First Nation in B.C. that was signed last month.

The Tla’amin, Homalco, K’omoks and Klahoose nations are located in the riding represented by Gunn.

“No one is going anywhere,” the First Nations said. “Canada will survive the brief moment of honesty. Until then, chiefs across the region continue to reassure the public that land acknowledgments have not, to date, resulted in any land back.”

Gunn responded to the joint statement on social media on Thursday by saying it was “unfortunate to see a number of bands making light of what is an extremely divisive time in our politics.”

B.C. Indigenous Relations Minister Spencer Chandra Herbert said Thursday that adding “a bit of humour to this is important.”

“There seems to be a manic anxiety quality coming from some Conservative politicians around acknowledging history,” he said, adding that telling someone to “chillax” was “the kindest way to approach it.”

The agreement with the Musqueam, who claim Aboriginal title of an area spanning much of Metro Vancouver, says the First Nation has unextinguished rights and title in its territory, and that both the federal government and the Musqueam are seeking a “new nation-to-nation, government-to-government relationship.”

The rights agreement says it does not “create, amend, establish, abrogate or derogate” from Musqueam title, nor does it constitute a treaty or land claim.