Woke Canadian lawmaker mocked for VERY lengthy land acknowledgement statement at start of meeting
A Canadian lawmaker has been mercilessly mocked online after delivering a lengthy land acknowledgement statement at the start of a budget meeting.
Toronto Budget Chief and City Councilor Shelley Carroll kicked off the Budget Committee meeting on Wednesday 'in a good way,' by first taking time to explain why the land they were meeting on was allegedly stolen from Indigenous peoples.
A land acknowledgement is an increasingly common and controversial practice that recognizes an area as the traditional homeland of Indigenous peoples.
Carroll, 68, went on to list the specific nations that the land is said to belong to, while also honoring 'those ancestors of African origin or descent.'
'Let's start the meeting in a good way by acknowledging first that the land we are meeting on is the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples. And it is now home to many First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples.
'We also acknowledge that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit,' Carroll said. 'I'm also going to make our African ancestral acknowledgement, and that is that the city of Toronto acknowledges all treaty peoples, including those who came here as settlers, as migrants, either in this generation or generations past.
'And those of us who came here involuntarily, particularly those brought to this land as a result of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and slavery. We pay tribute to those ancestors of African origin or descent,' Carroll said before carrying on with the rest of the meeting.
A clip of her introduction quickly made its way online and was immediately met with criticism, with one X commenter branding the moment 'quite scary' and another who said: 'Canada is a mess!!!'
Toronto Budget Chief and City Councilor Shelley Carroll made a lengthy land acknowledgement statement to kick off a meeting on Wednesday
Her comments have caused a huge uproar on social media, with many people finding Carroll's statement 'quite scary' and unhelpful in addressing the city's current needs. (Pictured: Carroll in October at a local police department event)
Another X user posted: 'Absolutely nuts. Certifiable.'
'Toronto, good luck on this,' someone else quipped.
'These people are woke nuts,' another chimed in.
Another expressed how the acknowledgement was not addressing what is going on in the city.
'It apparently now takes about 5 mins of self flagellation before they get down to the business of wrecking the city,' the user wrote.
'They have gone batsh** crazy,' a user added.
Land acknowledgements are not mandatory in Canada, but it is a customary practice, especially at events in the liberal city.
Carroll, who has been serving in city council since 2003, is no stranger to taking a moment to make a land acknowledgement at public events.
In 2021, she shared that after being asked to do a land acknowledgement at a National Congress of Chinese Canadians (NCCC) ceremony, she got emotional.
'This past Friday, I was invited to join the National Congress of Chinese Canadians (NCCC) for a small Canada Day cake-cutting ceremony, which was then broadcast virtually to their members,' Carroll wrote on her website.
'At the event, I was asked to do a land acknowledgement. I did it, and it brought me to tears.'
She continued: 'Canada Day means something different to everyone. No matter how long you’ve been here or how you usually celebrate, this year it's important to reflect on the thousands of Indigenous children who died in residential schools.
'It's an ugly part of Canadian history that we must confront, and it requires all of us to work towards real and meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.'
The Daily Mail contacted Carroll for comment.
Carroll's comments come just months after furious passengers blasted Air Canada and Via Rail for displaying land acknowledgments.
In November, a traveler who recently used both Air Canada and Via Rail, the country's taxpayer-funded train operator, shared images of the signage on social media.
In 2021, she shared that after being asked to do a land acknowledgement at a National Congress of Chinese Canadians (NCCC) ceremony, she got emotional
A land acknowledgement message is seen inside an Air Canada flight late last year (left). A similar message was seen at Via Rail, the country's taxpayer-funded train operator (right)
Air Canada's display, written in French, read: 'Air Canada recognizes the ancestral and traditional indigenous territories it overflies.'
Written in English, the train's sign stated: 'Via Rail acknowledges the ancestral and traditional indigenous territories on which our trains operate.'
The posts sparked a frenzy online, with many travelers rushing to social media to share outrage over the signage and several passengers claiming the companies have gone woke.
'This is state-sponsored insanity,' one person wrote. 'The woke overseers of Canada are such an embarrassment,' added another.
'Today we're announcing that we feel so Guilty we're giving Canada back to the First Nations,' wrote a third person.
A fourth person quipped, 'Should be a land acknowledgment for the dinosaurs.'
