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Geoff Russ: This is the land of the Canadian people

Colonists became Acadians, Canadiens, Maritimers, and British Columbians a long time ago

Canada can be a home to everyone except those who made it, as the official story so often now goes. At universities, in corporate boardrooms, and at municipal ceremonies from Victoria to Halifax, Canadians are reminded that they sleep, live, and breathe upon somebody else’s “traditional territory,” as “uninvited guests” on “stolen” land. This is the doctrine of delegitimization, designed to make Canadians politically and spiritually docile, for whatever reason. 

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In fact, Canada is the traditional land of the Canadian people because this is where they became a people in the first place. True, at some point, their ancestors may have set sail from Britain or France or wherever else in the world their forebears sailed from. But a country that your family has not lived or died in for four generations or more is no longer a homeland. Visiting London or Normandy may feel more familiar than Rio de Janeiro, but you are still a tourist in-spite of your surname.

Geoff Russ: This is the land of the Canadian people Back to video

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