King Charles, as British Overlord of Canada, Offers Land Acknowledgment in Ottawa Address to Parliament

Britain’s King Charles III delivered a land acknowledgment at the opening of Canada’s Parliament on Tuesday, appearing to contradict his right to rule.

Charles—who leads Canada as a legacy of the British colonization of the country—delivered the phrase in a speech from a literal throne in the Canadian Parliament. 

“I would like to acknowledge that we are gathered on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg people,” the king said, near the beginning of his so-called throne speech. 

The king’s address is a custom carried over from the nation’s colonial past that occurs before the opening of a new session of the Canadian Parliament. It is typically delivered by the Canadian monarch’s representative, the governor-general, known in other contacts as a viceroy. But in a rare visit to the Canadian provinces, Charles gave the speech himself. 

“This land acknowledgment is a recognition of shared history as a nation. While continuing to deepen my own understanding, it is my great hope that in each of your communities, and collectively as a country, a path is found toward truth and reconciliation, in both word and deed,” he said.

The text of the throne speech is customarily written by the current governing political party of Canada, in this case, the left-wing Liberal Party under the premiership of Mark Carney. However, the Canadian monarch or his representative is invited “to contribute introductory material dealing with his or her own activities and with Royal visits.”

It is unclear whether the land acknowledgment was the king’s or the prime minister’s idea.

Some historians have criticized land acknowledgments as shallow and “reinforc[ing] the myth of Native disappearance and irrelevance.” After all, if the land is unceded, and that is indeed morally wrong, then the Canadian government should give it back.

Charles III also appeared to allude to President Donald Trump’s public mulling over whether the U.S. would annex its northern neighbor. Trump has since said that he would not pursue the goal unless the Canadians are onboard.

“As the [Canadian national] anthem reminds us: The True North is indeed strong and free!” the king declared toward the end of his speech.

Land acknowledgments gained steam in Canada after 2015, when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its report on the abuses faced by Native Americans in Canada. As a subset of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, which is one of the largest class-action settlements in the history of Canada, the commission was tasked in particular with documenting the abuses that occurred as a result of compulsory residential schools that were designed to assimilate Native Americans into Canada’s dominant culture. 

Starting in the 1880s, Canada’s government had partnered with Roman Catholic and Protestant churches to establish residential schools for Native American children in Canada. Attendance at the schools became compulsory in 1894, and about 150,000 Native American youths would go on to attend one of the schools. The last residential school shut down in 1996.

After years of disputes over alleged abuses that occurred in the school system, the Canadian government set about financially compensating about 80,000 graduates of the residential school system. The government initially set aside $1.9 billion and approved payments of $10,000 for the initial year of schooling, followed by $3,000 for each additional year of compulsory schooling for each graduate. A total of $3.23 billion was paid out to victims as the compensation program came to an end in 2021.

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