Indigenous professionals say UBC is mishandling Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond ancestry fallout
CBC
Miranda Jimmy says there was an air of quiet alarm at UBC's Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC) during a workshop she was attending a couple of weeks ago.
The topic on the morning of Oct. 13 was how to collect oral testimony in a truthful way. But Jimmy said that in reality, everyone seemed to be avoiding a painful truth staring them all in the face.
"No one would make eye contact with each other. Everyone was just silent," said the member of Saskatchewan's Thunderchild First Nation. "Because everyone had seen the article but no one was talking about it."
Less than 24 hours earlier, CBC had published an investigation raising questions about the Indigenous ancestry claims of the IRSHDC's founding director Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond. To date, Turpel-Lafond has still failed to provide any evidence that she is a Treaty Indian of Cree ancestry, as she has claimed for decades.
Several Indigenous critics say UBC has fumbled its response to the story.
While Turpel-Lafond remains employed at UBC's Peter A. Allard School of Law , she retired from the role of IRSHDC director in June. Nonetheless, Jimmy said it was obvious that the news was hitting the IRSHDC hard.
"The staff were buzzing around like craziness, getting pulled out of meetings to go support media responses," Jimmy said.
Jimmy said she tried to discuss the story in the workshop, arguing that in her view, it's "ridiculous" to be talking about truth-telling in light of the findings of CBC's investigation.
She said she was met with silence.
The following Monday morning Ngai Pindell, dean of the law school, sent an email to students warning that talking about the story could cause harm.
"While it is natural that you might wish to discuss the story with colleagues, classmates and friends, please be mindful of the potential that what you say may exacerbate a difficult situation for someone you are engaging with."
"So that's a nice way to say 'Keep your mouth shut,'" concluded Jimmy. "Stick to what the [university's] public statements are."
The day the story published, Oct. 12, UBC issued a statement to The Globe and Mail, praising Turpel-Lafond for her career achievements, her accomplishments as the IRSHDC's director and her deep connection to Indigenous communities.
The university said it would not comment on whether Turpel-Lafond was actually Cree because "Indigenous identity was not a criterion for the position [of IRSHDC director]."
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