Are being woke and pretentious the same?

DEAR EDITOR:

Striving to be woke and politically correct is challenging our human rights and freedoms of expression.

Woke was originally described as a state of awareness and sensitivity to social injustices, especially as it relates to visible minorities in our society, like being pretentious about how much we really care about an issue, or group.

Or, insisting on a narrative that repudiates the truth, in order to be politically correct.

Today it’s woke to agree the land belongs to Indigenous people, when in reality it belongs to all of us.

It’s woke to sympathise with Indigenous people who are homeless and live in poverty, because their land is stolen, when in reality they are not allowed to own band, tribal, reserve, and treaty lands.

It’s also woke to insist people with 15 times more Italian, Spanish, or Polish blood in their veins than aboriginal, are Indigenous people, when in reality we are all immigrant Canadians with the same ancestors and heritage.

We all came from somewhere else, and when is irrelevant.

It’s woke to insist Caucasian is a colour, when in fact it was a people, leaving the reference ‘people of colour’ undefined and meaningless.

It’s woke to agree with former premier John Horgan’s interpretation of the UNDRIP protocols, in which consult means consent, and Indigenous people can use to veto any and all government proposals, when in fact it does not.

The spirit and intent of those protocols are, to make sure Indigenous people have and enjoy the same rights and opportunities as all other Canadians.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Andy Thomsen, Kelowna