Welcome to Need to Know, The Hub’s roundup of expert insights into the biggest economic stories, political news, and policy developments Hub readers need to keep their eyes on.
Land acknowledgements without accompanying actions are hollow gestures
By Karen Restoule, director of Indigenous affairs at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute
King Charles kicked off the speech from the throne this week with a land acknowledgement, noting specifically that “we are gathered on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg people.” It appeared to be a nice gesture, but for those of us who were paying attention, it was a head scratcher for a few reasons.
It’s tough to ignore the irony. The King isn’t just a symbolic figure of the Crown—like our Governor General—he is the Crown. He is at the head of the very institution that once directed the colonial project, that once directed colonial expansion into First Nations territory, and that was signatory to most treaties that continue to inform the Crown-Indigenous relationship today.
And, while it might bring satisfaction to some to hear him acknowledge that Parliament sits on unceded territory—where no treaty exists between the Algonquin Nation and the Crown—for others, it rings hollow with the lack of action to back the words.
The federal government has been in ongoing negotiations with the Algonquins of Ontario since the 1990s, at which time a land claim for 36,000 square kilometres of unceded territory throughout eastern Ontario was tabled. There is no question that, legally speaking, the area is contested and title remains unresolved. Leading with a performative acknowledgment without action like, say, bringing resolution to a matter that has been ongoing for more than 35 years, could be seen by some as offensive. And rightfully so.
If this land acknowledgment was intended to be more than performative, it would have included the Algonquin leadership—the rights-holders to this unceded territory and those with whom the Crown holds a direct relationship. While the presence of the Assembly of First Nations reflects national advocacy, the absence of the actual title-holders raises serious questions about protocol and respect for the nation-to-nation relationship. Anything less undermines the authenticity of the acknowledgment.
The King may very well have been genuine in his words, but there’s a unique brand of irony in the Crown recognizing what the Crown has yet to resolve.
Donald Trump, political foil
By Kirk LaPointe, The Hub’s B.C. correspondent
Donald Trump opened the political door to Mark Carney, who has made a meal and might make a feast on defining the U.S. president’s tariff threat as an existential one. That declaration stands to serve as a convenient cover for an agenda that will be expensive to deliver and already sounds exaggerated in its credulity.
President Donald Trump in the State Dining Room at the White House, Monday, May 19, 2025, in Washington. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo.
But Carney isn’t the only one to use Trump expediently to mask domestic ambition under the guise of international urgency. B.C. Premier David Eby is a step ahead of the prime minister in charting a similar course, deflecting attention from the province’s deteriorating economic record while casting into clay legislative powers against perceived perils still only made of putty.
The financial performance in his two years as premier is the greater peril: a $5.7 billion surplus became a $9.4 billion deficit, and economists believe it is likely now around $14 billion—the largest per capita of any province and the largest in Canada as a share of its economy. Adjusted for population, B.C.’s economy shrank in 2023-24. The government’s own documents project a permanent decline in the standard of living that began in 2023 and show no signs of recovery this decade. Debt will double to $130 billion within five years. Eby has not so much managed the economy as mortgaged it.
And, of course, this is not due to any impact of U.S. tariffs, but from increased public spending and hiring, the repeal of a carbon tax that went from revenue-neutral to revenue-plentiful under the BC NDP, and the absence of a prosperity plan. His way to cloak the problem has been to become a sudden BFF of the very industries he had ghosted through a new version of legislation it once castigated in opposition. He has pushed allies under the bus to do so. And he has grown even more stubborn with every pushback.
This week, his government passed Bill 15, the Infrastructure Projects Act, with measures to acquire land and allow cabinet to fast-track infrastructure projects deemed “provincially significant,” whatever that means, with powers to bypass normal approval that could abrogate Indigenous rights, limit local input, and reduce environmental oversight.
The legislation reflects Eby’s going-it-alone, knowing-what’s-best leadership style.
Rather than galvanize support, the bill has galvanized municipalities (they fear the process is rushed and intrusive), non-union labour (public infrastructure is only unionized under this government), many First Nations leaders (who assert it undermines the law recognizing the UN Declaration of Indigenous Rights), and both the BC Conservative and Green Party in opposition. It has drawn only tepid support from business—they’re awaiting regulations or proof of concept, it seems.
True, the mining sector is pleased, because it’s really a play for their critical minerals at a time when they are suddenly what Eby has tweaked to be shiny objects with global stakes from an industry frustrated by permitting inertia. The government can’t identify projects that might need this cabinet-centric discretionary weapon; it simply asks the public and interested parties to trust that we will know them when we see them.
Like Carney, Eby senses that Trump makes not only an ideal political foil, but a perfect domestic shield. For Carney, a rationale; for Eby, an excuse.
A graffiti removal worker cleans anti-Semitic graffiti on the door of The Glebe Minyan and home of Rabbi Anna Maranta, on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016 in Ottawa. Justin Tang/The Canadian Press.
How safe are Jews in Canada?
By Aiden Muscovitch, assistant editor at The Hub
On Monday, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) issued a new warning to the Israeli citizenry to take increased precautions in Canada, both for Israelis living here and those planning to visit. The NSC instructed Israelis to, while in Canada, “avoid displaying Jewish and Israeli symbols in public and remain extra vigilant while in public.”
The NSC raised Canada from Level 1, being “no travel warning,” to Level 2, a “potential threat level.”
In 2024, there was a historic high of antisemitic incidents in Canada, as 6,219 cases of instances like synagogue firebombings, attacks on Jewish schools and stores, and many arrests of criminals on terrorism charges were reported to B’nai Brith. This marks a 124 percent increase from 2022.
Before the NSC travel warning was issued, Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote a joint statement with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, where they condemned Israel’s recent expansion of military operations in Gaza and vowed to recognize the Palestinian state in hopes of a two-state solution—effectively rewarding Hamas with a Palestinian state after slaughtering 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping 250 more to hold them hostage. Carney is leading the charge to hand over their prize.
The NSC warning is not unfounded based on the rising antisemitism here and the lack of an appropriate government response protecting Jews from hatred. Seemingly, the best the government can do is claim to condemn antisemitism and say it has no place in multicultural, diverse Canada. Yet, through the other side of their mouth, the government legitimizes actors and rhetoric that glorify—or perpetrate—barbaric violence against Jews in Canada and abroad.
When antisemitism spreads on Canadian streets and travel advisories are made for Israeli visitors and residents here, the government signals to Jewish Canadians that their safety and belonging are no longer assured, and their presence is no longer protected.
