This article originally appeared in The Hub.
By Karen Restoule, May 30, 2025
King Charles kicked off the speech from the throne this week with a land acknowledgement, noting specifically that “we are gathered on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg people.” It appeared to be a nice gesture, but for those of us who were paying attention, it was a head scratcher for a few reasons.
It’s tough to ignore the irony. The King isn’t just a symbolic figure of the Crown—like our Governor General—he is the Crown. He is at the head of the very institution that once directed the colonial project, that once directed colonial expansion into First Nations territory, and that was signatory to most treaties that continue to inform the Crown-Indigenous relationship today.
And, while it might bring satisfaction to some to hear him acknowledge that Parliament sits on unceded territory—where no treaty exists between the Algonquin Nation and the Crown—for others, it rings hollow with the lack of action to back the words.
The federal government has been in ongoing negotiations with the Algonquins of Ontario since the 1990s, at which time a land claim for 36,000 square kilometres of unceded territory throughout eastern Ontario was tabled. There is no question that, legally speaking, the area is contested and title remains unresolved. Leading with a performative acknowledgment without action like, say, bringing resolution to a matter that has been ongoing for more than 35 years, could be seen by some as offensive. And rightfully so.
If this land acknowledgment was intended to be more than performative, it would have included the Algonquin leadership—the rights-holders to this unceded territory and those with whom the Crown holds a direct relationship. While the presence of the Assembly of First Nations reflects national advocacy, the absence of the actual title-holders raises serious questions about protocol and respect for the nation-to-nation relationship. Anything less undermines the authenticity of the acknowledgment.
The King may very well have been genuine in his words, but there’s a unique brand of irony in the Crown recognizing what the Crown has yet to resolve.
Karen Restoule is Director of Indigenous Affairs and a Senior Fellow at Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
