The nice thing about virtue-signaling is that it requires zero actual virtue. Recite the correct incantation, and — presto-chango! — you're a terrific person of great virtue. And how could you not be when your similarly transmogrified comrades gently finger-snap their assent to your every word? Even if you did crib those words from them and they cribbed them from a Facebook post or one of those overly wordy yard signs?
Maybe that's why those "land acknowledgements," so popular with Democrats, Canadians, and other filthy communists, get under my skin every time I accidentally hear one without first fortifying myself with at least one martini.
If you've never heard one — and I'd have cut off my ears before they came into vogue, had the commies been kind enough to warn people that land acknowledgements would be their next assault on common decency — lucky you.
Just this morning, I learned that the CBA has a handy PDF file online filled with countless examples of the empty posturing land acknowledgements that good Canadians should give before any public meeting, in place of grace at meals, or when singing sweet babies to sleep.
Here's one from the Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts): "I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the traditional territories of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) and the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Siksika, the Piikuni, the Kainai, the Tsuut’ina and the Stoney Nakoda First Nations, including Chiniki, Bearpaw, and Wesley First Nations. The City of Calgary is also home to Métis Nation of Alberta, Region III."
Isn't that lovely?
No?
No.
All of these acknowledgments are nothing more than meaningless vocal exercises because, the last I heard, not one person at AUArts seriously suggested evacuating the school's Illingworth Kerr Gallery and turning it over to the Chiniki people to sell off, move into, or otherwise do what they please with it.
"Nah, we'll just speak some empty words and pretend like previous generations murdered Native schoolkids so we can make ourselves feel superior to the people who actually built Canada and made it great. You know, everything we squander in between land acknowledgements."
But they sure as hell made sure everybody was genuflecting to the Siksika, the Piikuni, and whoever else before awarding AUArts Professor Rita McKeough the 2024 Gershon Iskowitz Prize, just to make sure everybody is fully absorbed into the lefty hive mind.
Mel Brooks nailed the absurdity five decades ago in Blazing Saddles:
And I don't mean to pick just on our Canadian friends, as much fun as that is. The Portland Parks Foundation's land acknowledgement is three paragraphs long, and those who incant its magic phrases recognize themselves and their listeners as "settlers and guests on these lands."
I'm not sure what to say to that. "Bite me," maybe?
Anyway, the point of all this ranting is that at least one genuinely proud Canadian has had enough of the empty virtue signaling and decided to acknowledge those who actually perform virtuous acts. I refer now to Canada's productive citizens who do the work and pay the taxes that make everything else possible.
Yes, genuine virtue, recognized in a public forum.
Watch and smile:
Toronto is now famous for our lengthy land acknowledgments.
— Brian Lilley (@brianlilley) January 21, 2026
Now, we have a taxpayer acknowledgment and it is brilliant.
Look at the faces on Perks and Moise.
Priceless. https://t.co/SFIarR6vLV
All I ask of our conservative Canadian friends is this: Please follow his example and make taxpayer acknowledgments a regular event, anywhere you can make your voices heard.
And maybe take the show on the road, like all the way to Portland?
But if not, this American taxpayer is grateful for the nod.
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