MUN president Vianne Timmons apologizes, takes temporary leave, as Mi'kmaw claims scrutinized
CBC
Memorial University president Vianne Timmons is taking a voluntary, six-week paid leave of absence and is apologizing as the university gathers Indigenous leaders to discuss the issue of her statements of Mi'kmaw heritage.
"While I have shared that I am not Mi'kmaw and I do not claim an Indigenous identity, questions about my intentions in identifying my Indigenous ancestry and whether I have benefited from sharing my understanding of my family's history have sparked important conversations on and beyond our campus," Timmons wrote in a statement released Monday morning.
"I have been reflecting on this feedback from the Indigenous community, and I sincerely regret any hurt or confusion sharing my story may have caused. That was never my intention and I deeply apologize to those I have impacted."
Minutes before Timmons issued a statement through Memorial University's online Gazette, the university's governing body sent its own statement indicating it's convening a roundtable of Indigenous leaders.
"While our initial understanding was that president Timmons did not claim Indigenous identity, we have received a lot of feedback from the community," said board of regents chair Glenn Barnes in the statement .
"We have received important questions about the president's actions, and we believe we have a responsibility to Indigenous peoples and a fiduciary duty as a board to explore these questions further."
In an interview Friday with CBC News, Miawpukek First Nation Chief Mi'sel Joe suggested the university gather a roundtable of Indigenous leaders and students.
Speaking with CBC News on Feb. 28, Timmons said she has always made a clear distinction that she never claimed Mi'maw identity, only ancestry. She said she has not benefited from discussing her ancestry or having claimed membership in an unrecognized band in Nova Scotia. Bras d'Or Mi'kmaq First Nation is neither recognized by the Union of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaq or by the federal government.
Timmons said she became a member of the Bras d'Or Mi'kmaq First Nation in Cape Breton after her brother sent in the family's genealogy, around 2009.
"But then I looked into it on my own and I didn't feel comfortable identifying as a member of a band that wasn't official or as a member of a band anyway because I was not raised Mi'kmaw and so I removed it and never referred to it again," Timmons said.
CBC News found multiple references in professional biographies for Timmons up until 2018, including when she was appointed in 2018 to serve on the independent advisory board for Senate appointments, a non-partisan body that provides the prime minister with recommendations on nominations to the Senate.
Timmons's publicly available CV shows also lists her membership in the Bras d'Or band. The website shows the CV was last updated in 2016.
In response to a recent CBC News access-to-information request that asked for the CV Timmons provided when she applied for the president's job, Memorial University said it had "no records responsive to your request."
The university's response added that Memorial did not retain any records of applications from the presidential search process, which was handled by a third-party executive search firm.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.