Okanagan Nation Alliance slams UBC professors' lawsuit targeting land acknowledgements

Photo: UBC Okanagan

Professors at UBC Okanagan have filed suit against the school.

A lawsuit launched by several UBC professors undermines Truth and Reconciliation, according to the Chiefs of the Syilx Okanagan Nation.

The petition filed Monday on behalf of several professors and graduate students on both Vancouver and Okanagan campuses, calls for the school to stop engaging in Indigenous land acknowledgements as well as what they deem to be political activity that limits academic freedom and violates legislation requiring UBC to be non-political.

“The use of the term ’unceded’ is inherently political,” the petition said.

“The declaration that land is unceded is often considered synonymous or closely affiliated in meaning with the assertion that the territory of Canada is ’stolen land’ and that the speaker, at least to some degree, and in this respect, does not recognize Canada as a lawful or legitimate state.”

On the contrary, the Okanagan Nation Alliance says to stopping land acknowledgments would be attempting to “erase Syilx Okanagan presence and rights."

“The recognition of unceded Syilx Okanagan land is not a political maneuver; it is an acknowledgment of historical truths and legal realities,” Chief Clarence Louie, chair of the Chiefs Executive Council said in a media release.

“Attempts to silence these acknowledgments are attempts to erase Syilx Okanagan presence and rights.”

Chief Robert Louie of the Westbank First Nation added that academic educational institutions have a duty to foster environments of truth and reconciliation.

“Challenging the acknowledgment of unceded Syilx Okanagan territories undermines this duty and disrespects the Syilx Okanagan communities whose lands these institutions occupy,” Louie said.

Such acknowledgments align with the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action, urging educational institutions to integrate First Nations knowledge and perspectives.

The chief said UBC’s approach is also in line with the commitments made by both the federal and provincial government to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Chiefs call upon UBC "to steadfastly uphold its commitment to truth and reconciliation by continuing to acknowledge the unceded territories of the Syilx and other First Nations peoples, and to reject any attempts that aim to diminish First Nations rights and histories."

In addition to land acknowledgements, the petitioners also took issue with the promotion of equity and inclusion programs and taking positions on the Israel-Gaza conflict.

UBC has not filed a response to the professors' lawsuit.

"The university is aware of the petition and will be reviewing it in the coming days," UBC representatives said in an email.

"Given it is before the courts we have no other comment at this time."

The petition filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday alleges that UBC is breaching the section of the Universities Act that calls for schools to be both non-sectarian and non-political.

“Academic freedom includes rights to pursue the evidence where it leads, to study, research, write, publish and teach without administrative interference and to engage in political discourse,” the petition said.

The professors involved want the university to be prohibited from making acknowledgments, arguing that they compel conformity to specific political beliefs.