Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond has had her University of Regina (U of R) honorary doctorate revoked.. University of Regina Campus .Turpel-Lafond received the honorary doctor of laws degree in 2003..The degree was revoked because Turpel-Lafond claimed to be indigenous. However, she is not indigenous..The Indigenous Women’s Collective (IWC) has campaigned to have the 11 universities that gave honorary degrees to Turpel-Lafond to rescind the degrees..On Friday, the U of R senate passed a motion taking away the honorary degree..The U of R released a public statement to explain the decision.."While the University recognizes that Turpel-Lafond has been a strong advocate for indigenous rights and child welfare, her accomplishments are outweighed by the harm inflicted upon indigenous academics, peoples and communities when non-indigenous people misrepresent their indigenous ancestry," said the U of R statement. .The U of R looked into “a number of other stated credentials and academic achievements [that] have been shown to be untrue.”.After reviewing the information, it was put to the senate to revoke the degree..Turpel-Lafond has voluntarily returned honorary degrees from Royal Roads University and Vancouver Island University..The IWC has called on the remaining eight universities to revoke her honorary degrees..The U of R told Turpel-Lafond last week of its decision to revoke..The IWC praised the “decisive action” taken by the U of R in a public statement.."We applaud the University of Regina for their courage and commitment to upholding academic integrity, denouncing indigenous identity fraud, and conducting itself in the spirit of Truth and Reconciliation," said the IWC statement. .However, the IWC said the two degrees that Turpel-Lafond voluntarily returned was a mistake because it "did not uphold academic integrity by making Ms. Turpel-Lafond accountable for her actions." .The IWC has asked the remaining eight universities to review Turpel-Lafond’s honorary degrees and "to stay the course, complete the investigations, refuse the return of their awards, and make their decision to revoke or not, based on their investigations and processes." .In December 2021, Canada’s Governor General granted Turpel-Lafond the Order of Canada and the IWC wants that revoked as well.."In light of Ms. Turpel-Lafond's ongoing refusal to provide reasonable explanations for refuted claims to indigeneity, we call upon the Governor General of Canada to denounce indigenous identity theft and terminate the Order of Canada awarded to Ms. Turpel-Lafond,” said the IWC statement..Turpel-Lafond is not the only fake indigenous professor caught in the past year..Professor Carrie Bourassa resigned from the University of Saskatchewan over questions about her claims she's indigenous..Bourassa claimed to be Metis, Anishinaabe, and Tlingit, but she is not indigenous..READ MORE Fake indigenous professor resigns from the University of Saskatchewan
