The Doctrine of Discovery by Mark Charles - is a Native American activist, public speaker, consultant, and author on Native American issues, as well as a journalist, blogger, Reformed pastor, and computer programmer. He was an independent candidate for President of the United States in the 2020 United States presidential election.

The Doctrine of Discovery was the international law that gave license to explorers to claim vacant land (terra nullius) in the name of their sovereign. Vacant land was that which was not populated by Christians. If the lands were not occupied by Christians they were vacant therefore could be defined as “discovered” and sovereignty, dominion, title and jurisdiction claimed. As with the discredited notion of "terra nullius", the doctrine of "discovery" was used to legitimize the colonization of Indigenous peoples in Canada,. It was used to dehumanize, exploit and subjugate Indigenous peoples and dispossess them of their most basic rights.