On Monday, I watched an enthusiastic crowd respectfully acknowledge Semiahmoo First Nation Chief Harley Chappell as he delivered greetings to the crowd at SurreyB次元官网网址檚 Canada Day celebrations.
Orange shirts were prominent amidst the sea of red, and visitors embraced the chance to explore the Indigenous Village area on-site.
Everywhere, I saw signs that Canadians of all backgrounds are ready and eager to acknowledge our First Nations and to embrace the spirit of truth and reconciliation.
Which makes the all the more timely.
Chappell was among the leaders of three First Nations B次元官网网址� the Katzie, Kwantlen and Semiahmoo B次元官网网址� who in the territory known as kB次元官网网址櫴積qB次元官网网址櫳檔蓹q.
Opposition to the potential loss of the Campbell Heights property, which happens to include , has been swift and vehement.
IB次元官网网址檒l admit that when the debate arose last week, my first thought was: No, we canB次元官网网址檛 let that land disappear, we have to save our farmland.
Should preserving agricultural land matter? Of course it should.
But itB次元官网网址檚 a bit rich for me to point fingers at First Nations for claiming back agricultural land as IB次元官网网址檓 driving in my car along highways built on agricultural land, to shops and neighbourhoods developed on agricultural land, while using a variety of products manufactured in industrial areas where agricultural land used to be.
Individuals, businesses, developers and governments at all levels have long been paving over and building on land that could have been used for farming.
To accept a generations-long history of that having been true but to now grow passionate about saving farmland from the hands of its original owners smacks of hypocrisy at best B次元官网网址� and unspoken racism at worst.
We donB次元官网网址檛 yet know what the Katzie, Kwantlen and Semiahmoo Nations will do with the land, if and when the federal government agrees to return it.
HereB次元官网网址檚 the thing: We donB次元官网网址檛 get a say.
We donB次元官网网址檛 get to believe in reconciliation and impose conditions upon it.
We donB次元官网网址檛 get to acknowledge that this land we live on belongs to the Indigenous people it was stolen from and then say we donB次元官网网址檛 want Crown land to be on the table.
We donB次元官网网址檛 get to act like weB次元官网网址檙e somehow being magnanimous by giving back stolen property and then having the temerity to tell its rightful owners how to use it.
ItB次元官网网址檚 easy to recite the words of a land acknowledgement recognizing that this area we call Surrey and White Rock is on the unceded traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples. ItB次元官网网址檚 even easy to think we believe it.
But thatB次元官网网址檚 the thing about reconciliation B次元官网网址� itB次元官网网址檚 easy to believe in, in a hypothetical way.
ItB次元官网网址檚 when it comes to the actual, uncomfortable changes it would require us to make that it becomes less straightforward.
If our commitment to reconciliation is ever to be more than lip service, we need to let go of the land that was never ours to begin with and let the three First Nations take it from there.
Whatever discomfort or sadness or frustration we may feel about their choices doesnB次元官网网址檛 change a thing.
Because the alternative to reconciliation B次元官网网址� honest, uncomfortable, painful reconciliation B次元官网网址� is to continue on the path of colonization.
And thatB次元官网网址檚 no answer at all.
Julie MacLellan is the Surrey/White Rock bureau chief for Black Press Media.
