Boissonnault out of cabinet after shifting claims about Indigenous heritage
CBC
Alberta MP Randy Boissonnault has resigned from cabinet amid allegations about his business dealings and criticism of his shifting claims about his Indigenous ancestry.
"The prime minister and MP Randy Boissonnault have agreed that Mr. Boissonnault will step away from cabinet effective immediately. Mr. Boissonnault will focus on clearing the allegations made against him," a spokesperson for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement.
Veterans Affairs Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor will temporarily assume responsibility for Boissonnault's employment and workforce development portfolio and official languages.
Boissonnault has been at the centre of controversy for months.
The House of Commons ethics committee has been probing whether Boissonnault continued to work with one of his former businesses after joining Trudeau's cabinet.
That business — Global Health Imports (GHI), a medical supplies company he co-founded at the outset of the pandemic — has bid on federal contracts in the past.
Some text messages released through legal proceedings show Boissonnault's former business partner, Stephen Anderson, referring to a person named "Randy" in business conversations with associates, prompting questions about whether Anderson was still consulting Boissonnault on business matters while he sat as a member of Trudeau's cabinet.
It would be a serious breach of the ethics law for a sitting cabinet minister to run a business that's also seeking federal work.
Boissonnault has denied having any involvement in the business since he was re-elected in 2021. He has accused Anderson of using his name without his consent to gain influence. He has denied being the "Randy" cited in Anderson's text messages.
The story took a turn earlier this month when the National Post reported that Boissonnault's former company, GHI, claimed to be "Indigenous-owned" when bidding for a federal contract in 2020.
Last week, Boissonnault apologized for shifting claims about the Indigenous heritage of some family members.
While the Liberal Party referred to him several years ago as one of their caucus's elected Indigenous members, Boissonnault has said since he "never clicked any box on any form" with the party.
Boissonnault has said he stopped sitting with the Liberal Indigenous caucus when he joined cabinet in 2021. He said that when he sat with that caucus previously, it was in the role of an ally.
Boissonnault has referred to his adoptive great-grandmother repeatedly in public statements as a "full-blooded" Cree woman. He was given a Cree name in 2021, spoke Cree at least twice in parliamentary proceedings and self-identified as an "non-status adopted Cree."
For the first time in 111 years, items once belonging to the late Albert Mullins were back in the hands of his family members thanks to the detective work of one Montreal historian.
The year that saw the remains of two First Nations women brought home from a Manitoba landfill and a search get underway for the remains of a third showed how far reconciliation efforts have come — and how far they still need to go, the families say
The RCMP has just released a warning stating there are dangerous, armed individuals on Big Island Cree Nation, near Meadow Lake.
A new land-use plan that Alberta’s government has for the province’s Upper Smoky region is drawing criticism from environmentalists who say they believe it lacks sufficient environmental safeguards, which poses a significant threat to the endangered southern woodland caribou.
Canadian officials made pains to show they were cracking down on illicit drug production in the country in 2025.
A year after the City of Hamilton cancelled its overnight warming bus, it is funding a new all-night warming centre for men at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church on James Street S.
This year has, without a doubt, been a turbulent one for the Canadian auto industry. Uncertainty dominated the sector — both for auto workers hit with job changes and companies trying to manage a mix of tariffs and changing market conditions.
A woman died at a ski resort in the Canadian Rockies over the weekend, after falling into deep snow.
Two pregnant women who would otherwise be living in a cold tent. A man whose leg wound was so bad it required intravenous medication. Two young people who no longer need to couch surf to get by.
The province has added 12 kilometres of designated trails for all-terrain vehicles in western Prince Edward Island that will connect existing routes in O’Leary and Tignish.
Every year, CBC North publishes hundreds of stories online — breaking news, investigative reporting, political coverage, community features, longform storytelling, and much more.
After a wild year in Canadian politics that began with Justin Trudeau's resignation and ended with Conservative MPs crossing the floor to join Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government, 2026 is shaping up to be just as action-packed.
It became a rallying cry, a cultural touchstone, a marketing strategy and — our favourite — often described in international media as "a hockey term" or "a Canadian phrase."