For most people, the land acknowledgments that have become common in public gatherings in Canada fall somewhere between a responsibility and a chore. For Aaron Gunn, the filmmaker turned Conservative MP for North Island-Powell River, they are apparently a Trojan horse aimed at undermining private property rights. 

In a recent social media post, he argued that “if the federal government truly believes in the private property rights of Canadians, they should probably stop opening every public meeting by proclaiming the gathering on the ‘unceded territory’ of this or that First Nation. Doing so reinforces the radical and dangerous legal concept that most Canadians live on ‘stolen land’.”

This is a curious position for him to take, given that Pierre Poilievre assured Canadians just last April that Gunn only wanted to “build stronger partnerships with First Nations people” after comments he’d made about the history of residential schools came to light. In a joint statement, the chiefs of the Tla’amin, Homalco, K’omoks and Klahoose nations — whose territory all fall within Gunn’s federal riding — solemnly suggested their member of parliament “chillax, bud.” More seriously, they noted that “land acknowledgements have never seized private property, cancelled a mortgage, repossessed a pickup truck or altered a single title deed anywhere in Canada. They are simply people recognizing the history of the place where they are standing.”

But the reaction in conservative circles to a pair of recent developments — one court decision, one federal agreement — is nothing to joke about. The BC Supreme Court’s August 2025 verdict in the long-running Cowichan Tribes v. Canada case recognized the Cowichan........

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