Quebec Liberals Support Canadian Land Recognition; PQ objected

Liberal leader Dominique Anglade says it is the message that counts, even if there may be “facts to verify.”

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QUEBEC – The Quebec Liberal Party welcomed the Montreal Canadiens’ decision to recognize that the city is on undisclosed indigenous land, but the Parti Québécois is far from agreeing.

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Various historians say the territory never belonged to the Mohawks, but Liberal leader Dominique Anglade said it is the message that counts, even if there may be “facts to verify.”

This season, Canadians have begun to recognize the Mohawk nation for “their hospitality in this traditional and unceasing territory” before home games.

PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said he was “shocked” by Anglade’s statement “as if the truth is optional” and asked why a sports team has decided to make a statement on a historical issue.

Québec’s parliamentary solidarity leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois said he would leave the debates to historians and did not want to “throw a stone” at Canadians, although he noted that the team was a profit-making business.

“As long as the state of Quebec does not clarify the issue of ancestral rights, controversies like this will occur, where private companies will take positions on super-complex issues.”

Earlier this month, Nadeau-Dubois and his colleague MNA Manon Massé held a press conference in Wendake to call for a law on indigenous languages. Rémy Vincent, great chief of the Huron-Wendat nation, said his people were not counseled or consulted on this, which he called “a gross lack of respect.”

Nadeau-Dubois said he wanted to turn the page and said Massé had apologized.