Fraudulent claims of Indigenous identity are risking community for the rest of us

OTTAWA—Picture Canada in 1958: the time of the baby boom, the Dodge Regent, growing influence of unions, the new unemployment insurance, and first version of health insurance. Does your history of Canada include Indigenous Peoples? In 1958, the number of residential institutions for Indigenous children in the south was decreasing. The UN Declaration on Human Rights in 1951 was passed that outlawed trying to destroy a minority group by stealing children and Canada was forced to change the more onerous bits of the Indian Act. But civil service leaders lamented that Indigenous kids without residential schools needed some kind of structure. Picture the secret meeting with scotch and cigars, and the feds gave over child protection to the provinces. By the late 1950s, more Indigenous kids in the south were finally living at home. This concerned the mostly white folks who were social workers, and they ‘scooped’ kids, or stole kids out of Indigenous communities because the houses didn’t have perfect picket fences, the stay-at-home moms and working dads, or the kitchens with chrome-plated tables. Blatant racism in social work called Indigenous parents ‘bad’ and their kids were adopted or sold to white families—good families. Hopefully those kids would lose that pesky Indigenous identity. The '60s Scoop kids were separated from families, and adopted out across Canada, the United States, and around the world. It's estimated that 22,500 First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children were removed from the homes in the '60 Scoop. Any connection to culture and belonging was severed completely. Flash forward to the 1980s and the '60s Scoop survivors were reaching adulthood, assuming they survived. No Indigenous language left. No knowledge about their own culture. And most were completely lost about their identity. The journey to reconnect to Indigenous community is not always easy. Birth parents may not be ready and the community may not have records. The '60s Scoop survivor may act ‘too white’ to be accepted by the community. The survivor may have been deeply impacted by the experience of racism, and not know how to move beyond it. The reconnection journey is fraught with emotional turmoil and it takes years. A survivor has to learn how to be part of the community, learn how to be Indigenous, how to introduce themselves as part of a community correctly. On the West Coast, First Nations communities were connected though relations and reciprocal responsibilities. We have clans, communities, and ancestors all over the West. It’s remarkably difficult to do genealogy on Indigenous families without the oral histories because of the complexity of our concept of family, and because Indigenous peoples tried to hide their identity from census takers, because of racism. And then there’s the stories of whole families moved away from home to try to make a living and escape the racism. We’ve had yet another allegation of Indigenous identity fraud in the last few weeks, and it’s not clear if the allegation will prove to be true. It seems it will be decided on social media rather than with the facts, and I cringe when I think what Elder Woody Morrison would have said about that. But every allegation of identity fraud is making the reconnection journey so much harder for '60s Scoop Survivors and others who have yet to make the link. Yes, there are fraudulent Indigenous communities and fraudulent individuals like the self-proclaimed ‘shamans’ around Ottawa who have no idea about Indigenous knowledge. 'Shaman,’ by the way, is your cue for fraud. We don’t put that stuff on our business cards. Identity is not clearcut. It is not a card and it’s not blood quantum. It’s not a tenuous link to one 1500s First Nations grandma (or I’m Scottish and I’m claiming a reserve north of Edinburgh), but a genealogy of complex ties to Indigeneity. It is not about where you live (UN Human Rights Declaration yet again) but it is about land. It’s not about specific knowledge or values (because that’s a cult and those always end badly), but it is about a unique culture that one learns in life. Identity is not about shared trauma or racism (because that’s just sad), but Indigenous Peoples have endured too much. Identity is complicated. As Indigenous communities and leaders out the frauds, may we also bring grace to those who are First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, and need belonging and safety. They are our kids, our aunties, our uncles, our messy extended family. Rose LeMay is Tlingit from the West Coast and the CEO of the Indigenous Reconciliation Group. She writes twice a month about Indigenous inclusion and reconciliation. In Tlingit worldview, the stories are the knowledge system, sometimes told through myth and sometimes contradicting the myths told by others. But always with at least some truth. The Hill Times

Fraudulent claims of Indigenous identity are risking community for the rest of us

As Indigenous communities and leaders out the frauds, may we also bring grace to those who are First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, and need belonging and safety. They are our kids, our aunties, our uncles, our messy extended family.

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Fraudulent claims of Indigenous identity are risking community for the rest of us

As Indigenous communities and leaders out the frauds, may we also bring grace to those who are First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, and need belonging and safety. They are our kids, our aunties, our uncles, our messy extended family.

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