Indigenous identity fraud 'the ultimate step in colonialism,' Metis lawyer says
CTV
Since Grey Owl a century ago, people of European descent have falsely claimed to be Indigenous for personal gain or a sense of absolution, but one Metis legal expert says it would take a psychiatrist to try to fully answer, 'why?' Lawyer Jean Teillet's report examined the harm caused by Indigenous identity fraud, outlined red flags for spotting potential deceit and suggested measures to prevent it.
Since Grey Owl a century ago, people of European descent have falsely claimed to be Indigenous for personal gain or a sense of absolution, but one Metis legal expert says it would take a psychiatrist to try to fully answer, "why?"
"It does boggle my brain, how do you keep all those lies, balls up in the air, for decades," said Jean Teillet, a Vancouver-based lawyer who wrote a report for the University of Saskatchewan last year exploring Indigenous identify fraud.
"What a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive...that's what happens. They get tangled up in their own stories," said Teillet, who is the great-grandniece of famed Metis leader Louis Riel.
Teillet's report examined the harm caused by Indigenous identity fraud, outlined red flags for spotting potential deceit and suggested measures to prevent it.
It came in the wake of a series of controversies over claims of Indigenous identity by prominent members of Canadian academic, literary and entertainment circles in recent years. The report was released in October, just as the CBC published an investigation into claims of Cree heritage by Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, a former judge, professor and B.C. representative for children and youth.
It's not a new phenomenon, though, Teillet's report says, pointing to Archibald Stansfield Belaney, a British-born man who claimed his mother was Indigenous and called himself Grey Owl, rising to fame as a writer and environmentalist while living in Canada in the 1920s and '30s.
Teillet said she sees Indigenous identity fraud as "the ultimate step in colonialism."
