Hymie Rubenstein is editor of REAL Indigenous Report, a retired professor of anthropology, and a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. Pretendianism — pretending to be an Indian for fame and fortune — has been commonplace for generations.But since the 1982 entrenchment of special indigenous and treaty rights in Sections 25 and 35 of the Canadian Constitution and their gradual but relentless expansive interpretation by the courts, indigenous identity theft by non-aboriginals has skyrocketed in lock-step with the growing status, influence, privilege and wealth that faking Indian pedigree now yields.One of the best known recent examples involves Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, widely regarded as one of Canada’s most successful and honoured indigenous scholars and legal professionals. For decades, she claimed to be of aboriginal ancestry through her putative Cree father, William Turpel. According to an October 12, 2022, CBC exposé, she even referred to herself as the “first Treaty Indian” appointed to the judicial bench in Saskatchewan history.Turpel-Lafond, a lawyer renowned for her work on indigenous rights, previously served as B.C.’s representative for children and youth. She was also a recipient of the Order of Canada.In addition, she worked as the director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia, where she was a tenured law professor until late 2022.The CBC asked Turpel-Lafond how her father, William Turpel, could be Cree when his parents were British. She refused to answer, only hinting at family secrets and shame, saying, “I will never call anyone out.” However, in a public statement days after the story was published, Turpel-Lafond declared that her father had been adopted.The CBC soon called out Turpel-Lafond again by releasing the official birth certificate for William Turpel, registered with B.C.’s Vital Statistics Agency, proving he’s the natural child of her two British parents.After the CBC investigation, Turpel-Lafond was removed from the Order of Canada at her own request and returned honorary degrees from several universities. Other universities also rescinded their awards.The Turpel-Lafond saga was resurrected on July 26 when the Law Society of British Columbia released a statement backing her claims of indigenous heritage based on a genetic test she commissioned showing she “most likely” had very recent ancestors with substantial indigenous DNA.In the statement, the Law Society, which made no independent attempt to verify the results of the genetic test, reprimanded Turpel-Lafond and fined her $10,000 based on her admission of making false public claims about her accomplishments and history.For several days following the statement, CBC News attempted to obtain a copy of her DNA test. On July 30, her lawyer replied that she is not obliged to disclose her private medical information to anyone.Experts in indigenous identity and DNA say that what has been reported about those tests does not necessarily confirm Turpel-Lafond’s public ancestry story. “We have to have a specific test and the data to be able to adjudicate this,” Rick Smith, an assistant professor of anthropology at George Mason University, said. “From the information we currently have, there are multiple possible scenarios.”“We need to see the DNA test,” said Kim Tallbear, a University of Alberta professor with expertise in DNA and its relationship to indigenous identities. “Putting that out without providing the actual results and broader context doesn’t really tell us anything.”Renowned or not, Turpel-Lafond is no distinguished outlier in the pretendianism scam.Undoubtedly, the most famous Canadian pretendian is Buffy Sainte-Marie, a celebrated singer-songwriter and activist, exposed by the CBC in a meticulously researched and detailed October 27, 2023 story titled Who is the real Buffy Sainte-Marie? Like many other “fake Indians,” Saint-Marie continues to assert she is aboriginal: “Being an ‘Indian’ has little to do with sperm tracking and colonial record keeping; it has to do with community, culture, knowledge, teachings, who claims you, who you love, who loves you and who’s your family,” said Sainte-Marie, 82, in an opaque written statement to The Canadian Press.The latest episode in the nasty Pretendian saga best highlights the enormous monetary stakes that discourages individuals from backing down.According to an August 9 Blacklock’s Reporter story, contractors pretending to be indigenous to obtain highly lucrative federal work are “of great concern” to Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein in his appearance before told the Commons Public Accounts Committee the day before.The Department of Indigenous Services on March 7 said it was verifying the status of all contractors claiming to be indigenous. Authorities set aside five percent of contracts for suppliers mostly owned by indigenous shareholders. Some 2,600 companies are listed in a federal Indigenous Business Directory.“If it truly is fraud, then it becomes a criminal offence,” said von Finckenstein. “If it is just misrepresentation over something, it may not amount to criminal, but it still should not be allowed.”On March 7, testimony at the public accounts committee, Deputy Public Works Minister Arianne Reza said the practice was upsetting. “It is wrong,” said Reza. “It is a terrible situation.” She said the department would “carry out further audits” to verify claims.But no audit of indigenous claimants has yet to be disclosed.“What percentage of those companies actually create jobs for Indigenous peoples in Canada?” asked Conservative MP Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.). “I actually don’t have that information,” replied Deputy Reza.Audits followed the case of Dalian Enterprises Inc., an Ottawa I.T. consultant that received 657 federal contracts over 20 years. The company’s CEO, an unnamed but now-retired Department of National Defence employee, “claimed” to be the descendant of an Ojibway chief.“Dalian’s identity as an Indigenous company as part of the set-aside for Indigenous procurement is obviously absurd and a manipulation of the intention of the policy,” said MP Genuis. “The intention of the policy presumably is to give opportunities to Indigenous Canadians to be able to work in jobs that flow from government procurement.” “But this was a company that simply received contracts and subcontracted them, taking a cut along the way,” said MP Genuis. “There were no opportunities created for Indigenous peoples as a result of this.”All these stories fit an all-too-familiar pattern that has been repeatedly exposed in recent years. According to Métis lawyer Jean Teillet, for decades, non-indigenous people have been falsely claiming indigenous ancestry:“They’re taking that opportunity from a real Indigenous person. It’s prestige, it’s money, it’s grants and awards and positions and work that they would never have gotten otherwise. It’s identity theft, it causes harm, there’s a lot of it going on, and it’s a serious problem. And that will happen because thousands of individual Canadians have falsely assumed an Indigenous identity.” Whose fault is all this identity theft? Those who have gotten away with it, of course. But the godfather of this reprehensible practice is none other than former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau who put it in fast forward when he foolishly helped entrench special indigenous and treaty rights and privileges in our sacred constitution.Hymie Rubenstein is editor of REAL Indigenous Report, a retired professor of anthropology, and a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
Hymie Rubenstein is editor of REAL Indigenous Report, a retired professor of anthropology, and a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. Pretendianism — pretending to be an Indian for fame and fortune — has been commonplace for generations.But since the 1982 entrenchment of special indigenous and treaty rights in Sections 25 and 35 of the Canadian Constitution and their gradual but relentless expansive interpretation by the courts, indigenous identity theft by non-aboriginals has skyrocketed in lock-step with the growing status, influence, privilege and wealth that faking Indian pedigree now yields.One of the best known recent examples involves Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, widely regarded as one of Canada’s most successful and honoured indigenous scholars and legal professionals. For decades, she claimed to be of aboriginal ancestry through her putative Cree father, William Turpel. According to an October 12, 2022, CBC exposé, she even referred to herself as the “first Treaty Indian” appointed to the judicial bench in Saskatchewan history.Turpel-Lafond, a lawyer renowned for her work on indigenous rights, previously served as B.C.’s representative for children and youth. She was also a recipient of the Order of Canada.In addition, she worked as the director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia, where she was a tenured law professor until late 2022.The CBC asked Turpel-Lafond how her father, William Turpel, could be Cree when his parents were British. She refused to answer, only hinting at family secrets and shame, saying, “I will never call anyone out.” However, in a public statement days after the story was published, Turpel-Lafond declared that her father had been adopted.The CBC soon called out Turpel-Lafond again by releasing the official birth certificate for William Turpel, registered with B.C.’s Vital Statistics Agency, proving he’s the natural child of her two British parents.After the CBC investigation, Turpel-Lafond was removed from the Order of Canada at her own request and returned honorary degrees from several universities. Other universities also rescinded their awards.The Turpel-Lafond saga was resurrected on July 26 when the Law Society of British Columbia released a statement backing her claims of indigenous heritage based on a genetic test she commissioned showing she “most likely” had very recent ancestors with substantial indigenous DNA.In the statement, the Law Society, which made no independent attempt to verify the results of the genetic test, reprimanded Turpel-Lafond and fined her $10,000 based on her admission of making false public claims about her accomplishments and history.For several days following the statement, CBC News attempted to obtain a copy of her DNA test. On July 30, her lawyer replied that she is not obliged to disclose her private medical information to anyone.Experts in indigenous identity and DNA say that what has been reported about those tests does not necessarily confirm Turpel-Lafond’s public ancestry story. “We have to have a specific test and the data to be able to adjudicate this,” Rick Smith, an assistant professor of anthropology at George Mason University, said. “From the information we currently have, there are multiple possible scenarios.”“We need to see the DNA test,” said Kim Tallbear, a University of Alberta professor with expertise in DNA and its relationship to indigenous identities. “Putting that out without providing the actual results and broader context doesn’t really tell us anything.”Renowned or not, Turpel-Lafond is no distinguished outlier in the pretendianism scam.Undoubtedly, the most famous Canadian pretendian is Buffy Sainte-Marie, a celebrated singer-songwriter and activist, exposed by the CBC in a meticulously researched and detailed October 27, 2023 story titled Who is the real Buffy Sainte-Marie? Like many other “fake Indians,” Saint-Marie continues to assert she is aboriginal: “Being an ‘Indian’ has little to do with sperm tracking and colonial record keeping; it has to do with community, culture, knowledge, teachings, who claims you, who you love, who loves you and who’s your family,” said Sainte-Marie, 82, in an opaque written statement to The Canadian Press.The latest episode in the nasty Pretendian saga best highlights the enormous monetary stakes that discourages individuals from backing down.According to an August 9 Blacklock’s Reporter story, contractors pretending to be indigenous to obtain highly lucrative federal work are “of great concern” to Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein in his appearance before told the Commons Public Accounts Committee the day before.The Department of Indigenous Services on March 7 said it was verifying the status of all contractors claiming to be indigenous. Authorities set aside five percent of contracts for suppliers mostly owned by indigenous shareholders. Some 2,600 companies are listed in a federal Indigenous Business Directory.“If it truly is fraud, then it becomes a criminal offence,” said von Finckenstein. “If it is just misrepresentation over something, it may not amount to criminal, but it still should not be allowed.”On March 7, testimony at the public accounts committee, Deputy Public Works Minister Arianne Reza said the practice was upsetting. “It is wrong,” said Reza. “It is a terrible situation.” She said the department would “carry out further audits” to verify claims.But no audit of indigenous claimants has yet to be disclosed.“What percentage of those companies actually create jobs for Indigenous peoples in Canada?” asked Conservative MP Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.). “I actually don’t have that information,” replied Deputy Reza.Audits followed the case of Dalian Enterprises Inc., an Ottawa I.T. consultant that received 657 federal contracts over 20 years. The company’s CEO, an unnamed but now-retired Department of National Defence employee, “claimed” to be the descendant of an Ojibway chief.“Dalian’s identity as an Indigenous company as part of the set-aside for Indigenous procurement is obviously absurd and a manipulation of the intention of the policy,” said MP Genuis. “The intention of the policy presumably is to give opportunities to Indigenous Canadians to be able to work in jobs that flow from government procurement.” “But this was a company that simply received contracts and subcontracted them, taking a cut along the way,” said MP Genuis. “There were no opportunities created for Indigenous peoples as a result of this.”All these stories fit an all-too-familiar pattern that has been repeatedly exposed in recent years. According to Métis lawyer Jean Teillet, for decades, non-indigenous people have been falsely claiming indigenous ancestry:“They’re taking that opportunity from a real Indigenous person. It’s prestige, it’s money, it’s grants and awards and positions and work that they would never have gotten otherwise. It’s identity theft, it causes harm, there’s a lot of it going on, and it’s a serious problem. And that will happen because thousands of individual Canadians have falsely assumed an Indigenous identity.” Whose fault is all this identity theft? Those who have gotten away with it, of course. But the godfather of this reprehensible practice is none other than former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau who put it in fast forward when he foolishly helped entrench special indigenous and treaty rights and privileges in our sacred constitution.Hymie Rubenstein is editor of REAL Indigenous Report, a retired professor of anthropology, and a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
