Article content

An Ontario town has rejected a motion to open all its council meetings with an acknowledgment that the proceedings are taking place on lands held by Canada’s Indigenous people.

A councillor in the town of Richmond Hill, Ont., first tabled the idea at a meeting in February, only to encounter pushback from councillors and see the motion deferred to a later date.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or ‘A course of political correctness’: Ontario town votes against acknowledging they are on Indigenous land Back to video

This week, when the motion came up for debate once again, dozens of residents of the town north of Toronto voiced support for the idea of showing respect to Indigenous people by acknowledging that they were the first occupiers of the land on which the town now stands.

But another councillor tabled an amendment to the land acknowledgment motion, essentially scrapping it and replacing it with a proposal to offer training on Indigenous issues to city staff.

That amendment passed, leaving local supporters shouting angrily at council members.