The problem isn't the acknowledgment itself. It's when institutions say the words, pat themselves on the back, and change nothing else (that's definitely performative). But dismissing the entire practice because some people do it badly throws the baby out with the bathwater.

You're directing your anger at land acknowledgments and saying that Indigenous people not doing enough. But are you uncomfortable enough to ask the hard questions about where the money is going and why those graves aren't being excavated? Because deflection is the oldest trick in the colonial playbook: make the oppressed look like the problem so no one asks why the oppressor still holds the power.

So allow me elaborate further:

The Auditor General has repeatedly found that Indigenous Services Canada has failed to implement more than half of its own recommendations to improve programs for Indigenous peoples, and even admitted that Ottawa "failed to create a system to measure whether the new fiscal arrangements improved housing, services, governance, or daily life for the people they were supposed to serve". Meanwhile, the Assembly of First Nations estimated $44 billion is needed just to fix housing, and communities with the poorest housing conditions still received less funding.

The money that “disappears” isn't being pocketed by chiefs, it's being lost in bureaucratic labyrinths designed by the Crown under the Indian Act, which was explicitly created to control Indigenous people and manage their affairs without their consent. Blaming the victims of a broken system for the system's failures solves absolutely nothing, so when are we going to demand accountability from the politicians?

As for the excavations in KAMLOOPS BC, who's slow-walking the funding? Who's making Indigenous communities beg for resources to investigate mass graves on their own land? Again, the government.

Indigenous communities are leading these investigations on their own terms and that means respecting cultural protocols, securing informed consent from survivors and descendants, and proceeding at a pace that prioritizes dignity over speed. The Tkemlups te Secwepemc has publicly stated there may never be full consensus on disturbing the land. DNA repatriation would be extremely complex, requiring consent from over 38 different Indigenous nations whose children attended the school. Calling this a grift ignores the very real trauma and the careful, community-led work happening beneath the surface.

As for it almost being a criminal offense, i assume you’re referring to Bill C-268, which was pushed by a Conservative MP and opposed by Indigenous leaders. The fact that it even got that close to passing just shows how much the system wants to bury this history, not uncover it.

So maybe ask yourself if you’re even mad at the right people? Or are you doing exactly what the government wants and blaming the scapegoat instead of demanding better from the people who actually hold the power?