It’s one small step toward truth that can start us on the path to reconciliation. It’s a little call to action, an acknowledgement of the traditional land we are on to start the school day, a conference, a lecture, a hockey game or a show.

To hear that acknowledgment is to register a moment of recognition, of appreciation, of gratitude, of respect, of humility. A reminder of what came before us and what binds us. Many Canadians do this graciously.

It therefore boggles the mind that leading doctors of the Ontario Medical Association, those vaunted societal leaders, could not bring themselves to heal old wounds when they voted against a motion to open their general council meetings “with a traditional territorial statement to recognize Indigenous people in Canada as traditional stewards of the land, and show respect for Indigenous people and culture.”

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The association’s governing council defeated the motion during a meeting April 28 by a vote of 105 to 65.

Take that in for a moment. Instead of straightaway adopting the practice of acknowledgment, the executive of the medical association decided that the motion brought forward by two students should be put to a vote. Instead of rescinding the motion when 105 cream-of-society types decided it was, meh, not worthwhile, the association president put another spin on it. In a statement, Nadia Alam said, “the majority of responses had to do with a concern about tokenism. They wanted more from the OMA.”

In that case, those doctors would probably vote down the national anthem, too, viewing it as a mindless, chest-thumping act of tokenism.

“We can’t comprehend why they would bring it (the motion) forward and proceed to defeat it,” Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said. “That sends a terrible message not just to the Indigenous people but also to non-Indigenous people.”

Though the acknowledgment is a symbolic gesture, the association’s failure to grasp its importance is troubling, he said.

Janet Smylie, one of Canada’s first Métis physicians, was disappointed by the vote but “unfortunately I’m not surprised,” she said. “People might say this has nothing to do with the practice of medicine,” she said, but it does.

One of Smylie’s major research areas is race preferential bias by health-care providers and how it actually results in differential treatment. She found, for instance, that First Nations people in Alberta are 24 per cent less likely to get a coronary angiogram within 24 hours of having a heart attack and are more likely to die.

“We don’t get it. We’re still in a place where we still think that because we think racism is wrong we won’t do it. Where actually, the social psychology — and most physicians are not trained in social psychology — is that most actually do it (have implicit biases), that it’s impacting our treatment decisions.”

This isn’t about hurt feelings, either, Smylie said. “It’s about equitable care, which is something that every physician in this province agreed to when we took our oaths to practice. By doing this, they participated in an inequity.”

Acknowledging traditional lands also opens up avenues for education — how many Canadians were otherwise aware of nation-to-nation treaties and unceded territories? At the very least, land acknowledgements are an act of politeness, something we are famed for. Remember how much we lap it up when American talk show hosts play up our ultra-nice sorry’s?

So you’d think by now we’d be well versed in the art of a good apology. But a statement from OMA’s Alam to my colleague Theresa Boyle, who first reported this, says: “The fact that this on-the-spot motion to acknowledge territorial rights didn’t pass should not reflect negatively on the many doctors we represent who do much-needed work with First Nations communities in Ontario.”

Of course it reflects negatively. What would not reflect negatively would be for the association to issue an unconditional apology, begin meetings by acknowledging traditional land and commit to training its members in cultural competency and understanding inequity.

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“Apologies are worthless if they don’t actually result in some change,” Smylie said. People have unconscious biases, but this decision, “this was a conscious defensive decision to actually defeat (the motion). That needs to be acknowledged.

“I would just say my colleagues are out of the loop and not behaving in an evidence-based scientific manner, and it’s harmful to society and harmful to the association.”

Shree Paradkar writes about discrimination and identity. You can follow her @shreeparadkar