Is a previously unheard-of First Nation just Canada’s latest Pretendian case?

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Alongside banners commemorating missing and murdered Indigenous women and the victims of Canada’s residential school system, Confederate flags flap gently in the wind.

In email correspondence between the two seen by the Guardian, Denby – a businessman and former mayoral candidate in the region – told Simpson he was in possession of “records” dating back to 1780 that proved “our Ancestors” were on this land for over 30,000 years.

The group’s apparent readiness to make questionable claims in a bid for territory – in this case, the entirety of Kawartha Lakes – alarmed Simpson and the chiefs of six other nations that are signatories to the 1923 Williams Treaties.

“They seem to believe that if they can finagle a little land claim, if they can call themselves a First Nation, they’ll get to create their own little fiefdom with their own laws,” said Veldon Coburn, a professor at the University of Ottawa’s Institute of Indigenous Research and Studies.

During the “Freedom Convoy” occupation of Ottawa two years ago, truckers pinned “Every Child Matters” flags to their vehicles – a phrase associated with victims of the Indigenous residential schools – and protesters held pipe ceremonies and lit a sacred fire – against the wishes of the Algonquin Nation.

Chief Simpson, whose community has spent recent years trying to buy up as much of the surrounding land as it can in order to restore it ecologically and rebuild territory lost to Canada, sees strong parallels between with fight with Denby and the legacy of the colonial project.

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