Push to remove 'pretendians' from Algonquin membership rekindled after CBC investigation
CBC
A CBC investigation that cast doubt on the authenticity of a letter which has enabled more than 1,000 people to claim Indigenous ancestry is reinvigorating efforts to remove so-called "pretendians" from the Algonquins of Ontario (AOO) membership list.
The letter had been used at a 2013 hearing to persuade a retired judge that 19th century voyageur Thomas Lagarde was Algonquin, making him a key "root ancestor." That meant 1,000 of his descendants could claim they were Algonquin and thus potential beneficiaries of a massive pending land claim agreement involving almost $1 billion and more than 500 kilometres of land between the AOO and the federal and Ontario governments. But last month, a CBC investigation using handwriting analysis, archival research and historical evaluation revealed that the letter is likely fake. "It's almost, in my mind, a certainty that this is a forgery," Algonquin professor Veldon Coburn said at the time, having reviewed the results of the investigation. The new revelations have prompted Pikwakanagan First Nation — the only federally recognized Algonquin First Nation in Ontario — to renew efforts to remove people who rely on Lagarde for their Algonquin ancestry from membership "The Chief and Council of [Pikwakanagan] have no tolerance for fraudulent actions that impact the negotiation process and beneficiary criteria, and directly affects the integrity of the process," the First Nation said in a statement emailed to CBC News.More Related News