Another day, another indigenous identity-theft story, more evidence pretending to be aboriginal has morphed from lying about being non-aboriginal in recent decades, a Canadian version of the American transition passing from white to passing for black..This is best seen in recent census trends. The indigenous population grew almost twice as fast as the non-indigenous population and now stands at 1.8 million — about 5% of the population — according to newly released census data. From 2016 to 2021, the number of people in Canada identifying as indigenous grew by 9.4%. The non-indigenous population grew by just 5.3% over the same period..While that growth rate is high, it's almost half the growth rate for the population that identified as indigenous between 2011 and 2016, which was 18.9%..The 2021 census attributed that faster growth partly to how census questions are answered: "In general, respondents have become more likely to identify as indigenous over time… The reasons people are more likely to identify as indigenous may be related to social factors and external factors, such as changes to legislation or court rulings.".Though the self-outing of formerly closeted indigenous people accounts for some of this increase, the growth of pretendians — people who falsely claim indigenous identity by asserting to be a legal member of an indigenous band or descended from indigenous ancestors — is also a factor. In fact, over the decades, so many pretendians have been exposed the CBC aired a Passionate Eye series documentary on the issue of indigenous identity-fraud called “The Pretendians” on September 30..The documentary raised the question of why so many people want to pretend to be indigenous when a disproportionate number of Canada’s aboriginal people are at or near the bottom of the socio-economic and status hierarchies. The executive producer of the documentary, Drew Hayden Taylor, argued two-thirds of Pretendians are opportunists who converted their false claims into profitable careers. Translation: follow the money, status, and privileges..According to Substack site Indianz.com: “Taylor believes Pretendianism appears to have gained a hold at educational institutions because of their efforts to hire people who come from native communities, whether tribal nations in the United States or First Nations in Canada… "They go out of their way to encourage hiring indigenous people in academia, you know," Taylor said of such efforts. "It’s a positive thing. It’s a wonderful thing.".Problems can arise, however, due to a reliance on self-identification, rather than recognizing the sovereignty of Native nations.”.Indianz.com also highlighted The Pretendians includes a segment on the fake indigenous art market in British Columbia where fraudulent products represent 75% of what’s being sold in Vancouver, a popular tourist destination..When their fraud is exposed, previous high profile pretendians have either denied the claims made against them or gone into hiding. This is why Taylor was not surprised with the lack of responses from recent pretendian figures like Michelle Latimer, a filmmaker who sued CBC for writing about her unverified claim to treaty status, but later withdrew the lawsuit..Another professor, Carrie Bourassa, recently left her position after her lack of indigenous status was exposed..Given the rich rewards to be gained from pretendianism, there's no surprise another high-profile individual has just been outed by the same CBC..Its detailed October 12 exposé is about prominent scholar, former judge and well known “indigenous” activist Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, currently director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia. Turpel-Lafond has long claimed she is a treaty Indian of Cree ancestry. But this proclamation didn’t match the CBC’s meticulous investigation which found a wealth of direct and indirect evidence suggesting she has not a drop of indigenous blood in her family tree..On the same day the CBC posted this story, the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) came to her defence by claiming: “Issues of First Nations identity and community membership are for indigenous peoples, families, and governments to sort through based on their own laws, customs, and traditions. We understand Chief Kelly Wolfe of Muskeg Lake First Nation, and her kinship family, all confirm that Dr. Turpel-Lafond is part of their community under their indigenous laws.".“The loss of connection, kinship and community which many indigenous peoples have experienced is a direct result of colonialism. It's not the role of the media, the Crown, or anyone else to tell us who we are. Tabloid style, divide and conquer public investigations result in tremendous harm and are a legacy of assimilationist colonial policies which have long enacted violence upon and sought to erase indigenous women, and can reinforce false, sexist and racist stereotypes of indigenous peoples.”.No mention was made of the fact there's no good evidence supporting Turpel-Lafond’s indigeneity or treaty Indian status or the legality, not to mention advisability and practicality of each of Canada’s 634 bands defining who is or is not an indigenous person. Otherwise, we're left with an open-ended invitation to peddle aboriginal status, with all its rights and privileges, to the highest bidder..The UBCIC allusions to kinship, colonialism, assimilation, sexism, and racism are even more curious because if Turpel-Laford is a pretendian, her stolen identity and fabricated family history are examples of white settler domination cynically employed by a highly privileged woman using the racist stereotype that indigenous people are easily beguiled by foreign carpetbaggers masquerading as their saviours..Turpel-Lafond’s employer, the University of British Columbia, also stood by her, claiming, “Indigenous identity was not a criterion” for her position at the school. Anyone believing this surely also believes in the Tooth Fairy. As the Globe and Mail just reminded us, “… a growing number of academic and civil service positions are now incumbent on indigenous identity for qualification.".“On the whole, being indigenous in Canada means earning less, facing greater unemployment, getting cancer more frequently, being a victim of a crime at dramatically higher rates and having a lower life expectancy. But in select circumstances — such as applying for federal research funding or contracts — claiming indigenous background can be instrumental in supercharging a CV.".“Positions within the federal Canada Research Chair program, for instance, are now explicitly prioritized for candidates from “minority” or “indigenous” backgrounds. Universities even risk losing their funding if they don’t meet federal quotas on hiring within certain “identity categories.”.Still, credit should be given where credit is due: Both the Passionate Eye documentary and the Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond story show the CBC is capable of world-class investigative journalism, when it has a mind to..But Canadians still need to ask why the CBC refused to do the same detailed investigation of the allegation the remains of 215 Kamloops Indian residential students are buried in unmarked graves next to the former school, despite the large body of evidence that has been sent to their reporters and managers showing that these “burials” contain no human bodies..Both stories however, omit the most important question of all, namely, why are we so zealously promoting racial and ethnic divisions in a country most of whose citizens believe all Canadians should be treated equally by being allowed to openly and freely compete for access to scarce economic and social resources..More particularly, most would not agree that “It’s a positive thing. It’s a wonderful thing” for indigenous candidates to be given preferential treatment in university hiring regardless of whether the discriminatory “affirmative action” provision in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms says otherwise..Why should one’s birth status — in this case, the inherited right to an Indian status card and a myriad of other privileges — determine access to power, privilege, prestige, and prosperity in what is supposed to be a nation based on freedom, fairness, and equality of opportunity?.Hymie Rubenstein is editor of The REAL Indigenous Issues Newsletter and a retired professor of anthropology, The University of Manitoba.
