FIRST READING: Yet another prominent Indigenous Canadian who may not actually be Indigenous
It’s happened yet again: Compelling evidence has emerged that a prominent Indigenous scholar may not actually be Indigenous at all.
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond was often counted among the handful of Indigenous people who have received judicial appointments in Canada — and was reportedly a candidate to become the first Indigenous justice of the Supreme Court. She served as B.C.’s first Representative for Children and Youth and is now director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia.
Gonna be a packed field this year. Below is CBC’s response to the counter-claims that the fake Indian is real.
Indigenous groups rally around Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond amid calls for proof of her Cree ancestry
Indigenous organizations in Saskatchewan and British Columbia are expressing support for Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond in the wake of a CBC News investigation into her claims to Indigenous ancestry.
But some Indigenous scholars are calling on the prominent academic and former judge — she is a professor at UBC and was on the bench in Saskatchewan — to answer the questions it raised.
For decades, Turpel-Lafond has claimed to be a treaty Indian of Cree descent. However, when challenged, she has refused to provide evidence of her claims.
