I hate the conservatives, their commitment to enriching the wealthy and destroying the welfare state. But I respect their refusal to engage in the idiocy of the ritual repetition of the acknowledgement. To reject this useless pandering is not to "deny the history of Canada." That is overblown rhetoric.

I'm tired of the foster care system being called genocidal, and the cheapening of the term. I'm tired of "systemic racism" being blamed for indigenous on indigenous violence. I'm tired of the presumption that there is a single indigenous voice or perspective. I'm tired of the fact that no one talks about about how some indigenous nations want pipelines, others don't, some indigenous leaders are elected, others aren't, some spokespeople are self-appointed opportunists and others genuinely represent their community. Its disgusting that the MMIW fudges its statistics to advance a political goal.

And yet Canada treats its indigenous people far worse than the US does its indigenous people. So much for Canadian smugness.

The politics, on all sides, is dishonest and hostile to nuance and history.

There are massive problems with the way that Canada has and continues to treat indigenous people. But pandering patronizing progressive rhetoric doesn't help anyone.