Rideau Hall officially revoked the 2021 Order of Canada on Saturday from a former Saskatchewan Provincial Court judge who had falsely claimed indigenous ancestry.According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the case prompted requests for a Senate committee to look into the issue of individuals who falsely claim indigenous heritage, often referred to as "pretendians."Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond was honoured as “the first indigenous woman appointed to the Provincial Court in Saskatchewan” in 1998.Turpel-Lafond said that she was born and raised as the daughter of a Cree father in Norway House, MB.The Ottawa Citizen once described her as “Canada’s most accomplished aboriginal lawyer.”On October 12, 2022, CBC News published documents showing Turpel-Lafond, who was born and raised in Niagara Falls, ON, of parents who had “no obvious indigenous roots.” The case prompted a Manitoba Cree senator to propose “identity fraud” hearings involving local celebrities claiming to be First Nations, Inuit or Métis.“What would you think if I told you I have decided I am going to be a white woman?” asked Senator Mary Jane McCallum (MB), a former Indian Residential School student and daughter of a Hawk Clan trapper. McCallum asked that senators “denounce the revelations of Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond’s deceit and identity fraud.”On December 13, Senator McCallum sponsored Motion 96, asking that the Senate investigate “the misrepresentation of indigenous ancestry, inadequate self-identification standards and profound effects such identity fraud has on further marginalizing indigenous people.” The motion is still pending in the Senate.“The most insidious harm caused by ‘pretendianism’ is how it most hurts indigenous people who are reconnecting to their culture and identity,” said Senator McCallum. “Displaced indigenous people need to be supported and acknowledged. ‘Pretendians’ perversely claim the vulnerability and violence experienced by indigenous peoples as their own and then use it to their own callous and self-centred purposes.”In the debate on the motion, Senator Paula Simons (AB) called the practice immoral. “Pretending to be First Nations, Inuit or Métis as a way to further your career or just make yourself seem more interesting is clearly dishonest and immoral,” said Simons. “Such fakery is an audacious insult, a slap in the face to any authentic indigenous person who has spent a lifetime coping with racism, economic injustice and social inequity.”The legal notice published on Saturday coincided with confidential “reviews of honours” for Buffy Sainte-Marie, who identifies herself as a Canadian Cree musician.On October 27, the CBC program Fifth Estate presented evidence suggesting that Sainte-Marie may not have been Canadian or Cree. Instead, it proposed that she was born Beverly Santamaria in Stoneham, Massachusetts, and was the daughter of an Italian-American electrician.
