Mi'kmaw lawyer, academic calls on MUN to investigate president over statements on Indigenous heritage

An Indigenous lawyer, author and academic is calling for Memorial University of Newfoundland to investigate its president following a CBC News investigation of Vianne Timmons's statements on Indigenous heritage and past membership in an unrecognized First Nation group.

Pam Palmater said the university ought to investigate the matter and suspend Timmons during the investigation process before making a decision about whether she keeps her position.

"I think they need to hold themselves to account," said Palmater, who is a member of the Eel River Bar First Nation in New Brunswick.

Timmons, who has been president and vice-chancellor since 2020, says she does not, nor has she ever claimed Mi'kmaw identity. However, for years her publicly available resumé listed her as a member of an unrecognized band in Nova Scotia. Between 2011 and 2018, multiple professional biographies noted her membership in Bras d'Or Mi'kmaq First Nation, including one used for the prime minister's independent advisory board for senate appointments.

In a statement released Wednesday, the university's Office of Indigenous Affairs asked that the university community give them space to gather and discuss.

"Indigenous identity and Indigenous ancestry are issues that can be complex and nuanced," said the statement. "The conversations around these issues are ones that must be led by Indigenous people.

Memorial University's board of regents — the university's governing body — issued a statement Thursday afternoon repeating that sentiment, saying the issues are complex and that conversation must be guided by Indigenous people.

"This is a significant and sensitive topic that requires due consideration," said board chair Glenn Barnes. "Those conversations have already started and will continue at the board's regularly scheduled March meeting today."

Timmons maintains there is a difference between claiming Indigenous identity and Indigenous heritage, and has spoken of her lineage before, in interviews and question-and-answer sessions.

"I'm of Mi'kmaw ancestry; that was hidden and something to be ashamed of. I want to make sure that people today don't feel that shame that my father felt," Timmons told MUN newspaper the Muse in 2021.

"It's like trying to find your story that somebody hid from you, not just hid from you, but changed for you. We're so proud of our heritage — Italian Canadian, French Canadians — but when it comes to my father, being Indigenous was not something to be proud of, it was something to be ashamed of. That is heartbreaking." 

She said she was told by her father when she was in her 30s that she had a Mi'kmaw great-great-great-grandmother but her father was ashamed of it. Timmons said she honoured her father's wishes by acknowledging her Mi'kmaw heritage. 

However, CBC News could not find any Mi'kmaw relative closer than 10 generations removed. A genealogist and Stephen White, whom the American-French Genealogical Society considers the foremost expert in Acadian genealogy, reviewed the CBC's work.

Timmons said she has a census document to prove her family's story. CBC News has asked for the document for a month, and Timmons said it is likely in her mother's home in Nova Scotia.