Birth certificate contradicts Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond's account of her father's parentage and ancestry

A birth certificate recently obtained by CBC directly contradicts Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond's public claims about her father's ancestry and the identity of his parents.

The government-issued document says William Turpel is the natural-born child of British parents, not an adopted Cree boy of undetermined parentage as Turpel-Lafond has claimed her father was.

Turpel-Lafond, considered to be one of Canada's most successful and decorated Indigenous scholars and legal professionals, has for decades claimed to be of Indigenous ancestry through her father William Turpel, who she said was Cree. She has said she was the "first Treaty Indian" appointed to the judicial bench in Saskatchewan history.

Earlier this year, a CBC investigation uncovered evidence that cast doubt on her claims to a Cree ancestry. For example, a newspaper birth announcement and a baptismal record indicate William Turpel was born to British parents — Dr. William Nicholson Turpel and Eleanor Rhoda Turpel  — who Turpel-Lafond says are her grandparents.

As part of its investigation, CBC asked Turpel-Lafond how her dad 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. 

She wrote that her non-Indigenous grandparents, Dr. and Mrs. Turpel, "adopted my father, who they knew to be a Cree child from Norway House (Manitoba), although this was not done in a formal manner." She offered no evidence for this claim. 

After the story published, a group called the Indigenous Women's Collective, which includes retired Indigenous senator Lillian Dyck, called on 11 universities to revoke the honorary doctorates they had granted Turpel-Lafond. They said the reason for their call was Turpel-Lafond's false ancestry claims.

"Granting an honorary doctorate to a pretendian [pretend Indian] advances the colonial notion that a Caucasian person impersonating Indigeneity is a worthy and suitable candidate," the statement says. Each of those 11 institutions has committed to conduct a review.

Now, CBC has obtained an official birth certificate for a William Turpel, registered with BC's Vital Statistics Agency, which says he's the child of British parents.

The document, signed by Eleanor Turpel and the district registrar at the time, says William Turpel was born alive and to full term in Victoria's Jubilee Hospital on July 24, 1929. It says his mother Eleanor's "racial origin" was English while Dr. Turpel, his father, was British. 

The birth certificate lists the baby's name as William Loosley Turpel. The 1932 baptismal record and 1987 death certificate known to be connected to Turpel-Lafond's father identify him by the same name — William Loosley Turpel. Loosley is Eleanor's maiden name. 

In summary, official documents say William Loosley Turpel was born to Dr. and Mrs. Turpel on July 24, 1929, in a Victoria hospital.

By contrast, Turpel-Lafond claims without evidence that her father, William Turpel, was a Cree child, unofficially adopted by Dr. and Mrs. Turpel.