Had a chuckle on my way to Trout Lake Rink Sunday.

Was in my car driving through the intersection at Boundary and Grandview Highway when a large sign caught my attention.

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It was on the northwest corner in front of the Roots Factory Store, the one with the Canadian flags lining the roof. In big black letters painted or etched onto a large white sheet or canvas was this: Unceded Territory.

It was not an amateur piece of work.

The location of the sign was also significant: It was covering the Welcome to Vancouver sign that’s been there for as long as I can remember. You’ve probably seen it, or ones like it at entrances to the city -- blue background, strip of green and in big white letters, “Welcome to Vancouver.”

I thought about stopping to snap a photo with my phone, but had to get my daughter to her ringette game. Rolled by early Monday morning and the artist’s or artists’ handiwork was gone. So that was that. End of story, right?

Not exactly.

I discovered that someone, or the same group, targeted another one of the Welcome to Vancouver signs on Southeast Marine Drive. Maybe others were hit, too. The police received no reports and I didn’t hear back from the city before posting this piece.

I started thinking about the motivation behind the act, and how whoever was responsible for the vandalism/mischief/doing the right thing had an arguable point – and not only the obvious historical one that, in fact, Vancouver is on the unceded homelands of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish nations.

The fine point on that argument is that Vancouver city council approved a policy on June 25, 2014 that acknowledged Vancouver is on the unceded traditional territory of the three local nations. You’ll often hear the mayor and other councillors say this at the beginning of a meeting or news conference. Council also proclaimed June 21, 2013 to June 20, 2014 as the “year of reconciliation” in Vancouver, the only municipality in Canada to do so.

Yet, none of that is recognized on the very signs that welcome you to Vancouver.

There’s also this: As Canada prepares to celebrate its 150th birthday this summer, Vancouver is promoting its festivals and events as 150+. That plus sign is to acknowledge Canada had a history before colonialism.

As the most recent city staff report on the Canada 150+ preparations says, Vancouver’s goal is to become the Aboriginal cultural capital of Canada. The feds have contributed $2.3 million for the celebration, which will include a canoe gathering, a drum festival and a walk for reconciliation.

“The three Canada 150+ signature activities are a mechanism to promote intercultural and civic engagement that can foster stronger relationships between Aboriginal and newcomer communities,” the report said. “They support a vision to have Vancouverites from all cultures and backgrounds learn, celebrate and appreciate each other’s culture. In this way, our community can strengthen relationships, heal from the past and move forward with shared understanding and respect.”

So you get the picture here – Vancouver appears to be on board with reconciliation, as I learned in writing a six-part series last fall that examined Vancouver through an indigenous lens. You can read it by going to the Courier’s website and clicking on the Truth and Transformation bar at the top of the page.

Council’s lead on much of these efforts has been Vision Vancouver Coun. Andrea Reimer, who has learned how to speak some phrases in the Squamish language, has had high praise from Musqueam Chief Wayne Sparrow for her work with the band and spent part of her weekend at the Nisga’a new year celebration at the PNE Forum.

I spoke to Reimer Monday and got her reaction to the “unceded territory” sign.

“It sounds like it was a very thoughtfully approached public space intervention that didn’t do damage to property and has achieved what I think they were hoping for, which was a public discussion,” she said.

Then I asked her if she thought the signs should be redesigned or amended to recognize council’s own policy that Vancouver is on the unceded territory of the three local nations. Turns out Reimer is working on a motion she plans to bring before council in the next few months that looks more broadly at naming places in Vancouver that commemorate the history of the nations.

“It provokes an opportunity for a much bigger discussion,” she said. “There’s quite a few places in this city that were here long before the City of Vancouver was here, but the people here now don’t know that because the names and places were violently removed.”

As for who was behind the sign caper, I’m still on the case.

mhowell@vancourier.com

@Howellings