unceded

what does that actually mean?

When you hear "we are on the unceded territory of........" what does that actually mean?

Unceded means we have never surrendered the land we come from to anyone or any government. Federal and provincial governments were formed to colonize the land we come from and pushed us to live on small parcels of land.

This land we now live on known as Vancouver, North Vancouver, Indian arm, West Vancouver, Squamish Valley, Whistler,Port Moody and New Westminister was never legally given up to anyone.

If you do your homework on local history and the establishment of these towns, and cities - it tells a story of people from other countries, discovering this land, seeing the potential to make money from this land and colonizing it. Many people moved here to prosper in a "better" life.

Our Sḵwx̱wú7mesh people were seen as a problem to the prosperity of the lands, yet, today, people think we get everything for free - we don't.

Legally Canadian Indigenous people are wards of the government. What does that mean? If you do some research into this topic, you might understand our situation a bit better. As a tax payer, you pay governments who took advantage of our non-english speaking ancestors and despite truth and reconciliation efforts - the fact is we never surrendered our lands but they collect fees from everyone.

Unceded - refers to land that was never legally transferred or given up by the Indigenous people who traditionally occupied it to the Crown or Canada through a treaty or other agreement. This means the land was never formally relinquished by the Indigenous peoples who inhabited it.

A traditional territory is the geographic area identified by an Indigenous Nation as the land they and/or their ancestors traditionally occupied and used.