Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek started her Remembrance Day speech on Monday by calling Canadians “settlers” on Indigenous lands. 

The Mayor, who last year survived a recall petition, began her speech by saying hello in a number of Indigenous languages.

“These are greetings of Indigenous languages of the traditional Treaty 7 people, who stewarded these lands for generations before many of us came to settle here,” she said.

The mayor went on to honour “Indigenous ways of knowing,” saying they prioritize “living in harmony and peace.”

The mayor was subsequently lambasted on social media for choosing to begin the ceremony in such a way, interpreted by many as an insult to Canadians, one that implies Canada is really only Indigenous peoples’ land. 

“She has got to be the worst mayor in Alberta’s history,” said one user, Jack.

“That is so wrong,” another user said, Brattani. 

One social media user noted, “We can’t even have one day.”

Gondek’s politicization of one of Canada’s most recognized and solemn days of the year—and one that honours those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country—comes just eleven months after she ditched the annual Menorah lighting event, alleging that it had become politicized. 

The Calgary mayor’s decision to inform Calgarians that they are living on someone else’s land was echoed by some other woke ideologues across Canada, including Toronto’s city protocol manager, Aretha Phillip. 

During her opening Remembrance Day remarks, Phillip began by informing Canadians, who stood in cool temperatures alongside military veterans, that Canada is a colonist, racist country.