That’s not exactly common in the U.S. either.
At a news conference in September, Trump said that Canada had a very large faucet that was sending water into the Pacific Ocean but it could be turned around to send water right into Los Angeles to help with natural disasters.
Hard to be sure, given his knowledge of geography, but he may have meant the Columbia River which has been managed jointly by the US and Canada since 1961 under a cooperative treaty. The treaty has been undergoing modernization for the past few years but now there is a panic to get it ratified before Trump takes office. Thread below to short gifted article.
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Seems like Modi is copying Xi’s playbook now:
So is this corny “land acknowledgement” thing a Canadian requirement or something? My SIL works from home for a Canadian company and they require such a statement before every business meeting. I know that some people consider it a way for indigenous folks to be “seen” or whatever, but to me it feels more like a condescending taunt. Might as well say, “this venue is on stolen land, but we’re not giving it, or the buildings and assets on it, back to you, so, Shake It Off! 
But yeah, I do totally agree that we did totally steal it from you.” 
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I think it’s stupid, but have seen Native American activists explain why it’s important to them, and their opinions matter more than mine on this issue.
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We have one of these before our big divisional meetings every quarter. Everything in Santa Barbara is formerly Chumash land, and it’s a perfectly cromulent way to honor that history. I’m happy to defer to the actual stakeholders on whether they want it or not. It doesn’t affect me in the slightest.
It’s not a requirement, and it’s a bit of posturing. The statements talk about how we are on the land from fn’s ancestors. They don’t talk about the real problem which isn’t the land, it’s all the treaties that are ignored, and can’t really be honoured in their original intent now anyway.
First nations in Canada isn’t like the US. We have a couple hundred independent nations who have agreements with the British crown. And related, Canada itself created an Indian act which basically makes fn folks wards of the state.
It’s quite a mess. Add in a lot of money going around and a lot of people being treated poorly, and well, we end up with the populace doing these land statements.
An example, there’s treaties saying fn’s have ownership of land say within 5-10 miles of a river. Except there’s entire cities in that space now.
Also leads to problems where First Nations have treaties allowing them to make a moderate livelihood from local fish stocks and they were then excluded from the fisheries (and banned from having lawyers). Flash forward several decades and people with non-First Nations ancestry have a crap tonne of money invested in a vessel and gear and First Nations people now have legal backing to exercise their treaty rights. Things become testy.
Land recognitions were one of hundreds of recommendations from the truth and reconciliation report. I think the point they accomplish is to say there were people here before Europeans showed up. Its imo a helpful step as in parts of Canada native populations face extreme prejudice.
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It is not required in Canada but it is very common; almost universal here in BC. The actuarial profession here is split on it so the CIA does not yet do it.
The Indigenous groups I work with are all supportive of doing the land acknowledgments. Clearly there are other actions that have more practical impact but I personally support the land acknowledgments as they at least create awareness of the situation.
One of Canada’s strengths, relative to the US and the UK, is the financial health of its public pension plans. While these plans are often underfunded in the US and the UK, the plans at Canada’s federal, provincial and municipal level have a different problem: they are testing maximum funding limits. This will only be exacerbated by strong investment returns in 2024. It is nice to be discussing surpluses rather than deficits.
The Public Service Pension Plan is one of many in this situation.
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And Canada is now joining the ranks of Post strikes.
We got hit in 2022 (Royal Mail UK) and we ended up receiving Christmas gifts in mid January. Same with cards.
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Postal strikes aren’t as devastating as they used to be!
Canada Post is losing billions so I can’t see a really generous settlement.
But obnoxious to have the government dipping into my pension plan for funds. On the other hand, I think the group 1 pension has a deficit and if the plan is underfunded, they’d be expected to make up the shortfall.
I’m hoping to make an Amazon order, but the strike is messing up my usual option (delivery to my local.shoppers drug mart). Now I’ll have to stay home to get the package rather than risk porch pirates.
Nobody other than a select few care about Canada post. We used to go daily. Now we go weekly. And I can’t remember the last time there was something there that mattered.
Canada post hasn’t changed with the times. They had the opportunity, they had all the infrastructure to handle all the internet shipping, and didn’t.
Plus the cost of shipping through them these days is exhorbitant. Like, breathtaking. 80 bucks for a parcel? Sub par service at a premium price.
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Amazon Logistics isn’t yet a thing for you?
(Be thankful.)
I’m on the island in the middle of the Atlantic with hardly any people on it. My choices are Canada Post or Amazon’s local 3rd party(?)/subsidiary(?) delivery agent Dragonfly/Intellecom. If I don’t go Canada Post, then it’s just getting dropped on my front step. My front door pretty much opens up directly onto the sidewalk, so zero effort needed by someone to pick up my packages.
Another example of Canadian superiority? Money isn’t everything?