Joe Rogan, Andrew Schulz laugh at Canada's forced land acknowledgments
Canada’s push to have land acknowledgements read before public events became the butt of a joke between two of America’s most popular comedians on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience.
Canada’s bureaucratic push to have land acknowledgements read before public events became the butt of a joke between two of America’s most popular comedians on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience.
While appearing as a guest on the popular podcast, stand-up comedian Andrew Schulz told host Joe Rogan that he found the concept of Indigenous land acknowledgements “funny,” particularly when he’s been asked to do one before beginning a performance.
“I find it funny when governments do these things like enforced care,” said Schulz. “Any time I’m performing in Canada and I’m in an Indigenous area, they make me do a land acknowledgement. I remember the first time they told me, I was like, ‘You want me to do what?’”
Land acknowledgements are announcements made before an event takes place to state that the land, often described as “unceded territory” where the event is taking place, once belonged to a particular First Nations tribe.
These acknowledgements first became popularized on university and college campuses following the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report in 2015.
They have since become obligatory announcements before various public events, such as NHL games, music concerts and speeches.
Schulz said while performing in Canada, he was told that he must inform his audience that they were on what used to be native land.
“I remember telling it to the chief of the tribe, like, ‘brother, that kind of seems like I’m bragging,’” he said. “I’m going up there and being like, ‘this used to be yours, but the boys came in and got y’all the f*** outta here.’ You really want me to remind everybody what happened before the comedy show?”
Rogan responded by saying that his “favourite part” of land acknowledgements is that it also implies that “we’re not giving it back.”
“We stole it, but it’s ours now. Sorry…sorry,” joked Rogan. “The thing is, the people that go along with that are the same people that want no borders and think no one is illegal being anywhere. Like Christopher Columbus is the only immigrant they hate. There’s no borders, no one’s illegal, but yet these people shouldn’t have been here.”
Riffing on Rogan’s premise, Schulz added, “We let a Spanish-speaking guy into America once… went great.”
Despite the pervasive appearance of land acknowledgments at public events, the majority of Canadians do not believe they are living on land that was stolen from Indigenous peoples.
According to a public survey conducted in June by the Association for Canada Studies & Metropolis Institute, 52 per cent of Canadians didn’t believe they lived on stolen land.
However, a smaller cohort of 27 per cent said they did believe they lived on stolen land, while the remaining 21 per cent said they either didn’t know or declined to answer.
Among Indigenous respondents, 53 per cent agreed that they lived on stolen land, while 36 per cent said they did not.
Students and the unemployed were more likely to agree with the notion of living on stolen land than those who worked either full or part-time jobs.
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This whole thing is a joke, sadly it is causing division with people, most likely it's intended purpose.
I've said this before, but it bears repeating: I have yet to hear of any FN event beginning with an acknowledgement of the tremendous benefits of the European colonists' medical knowledge and technology, freely shared, without which, not to mention the Pax Britannica, they would likely be extinct by now from starvation, disease, inbreeding, and inter-tribal conflict.