Liberal cabinet minister’s shifting Indigenous identity met with scorn

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Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault says his shifting claims from being “non-status adoptive Cree” to recently stating his adoptive mother is “status Métis” are a “reflection of his family exploring their own history” and not him claiming Indigenous status.

Boissonnault’s spokesperson Alice Hansen sent National Post a statement Tuesday offering new details about the minister’s changing stories about his adoptive family’s identity, which had raised concerns among some Indigenous people.

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Hansen said that Boissonnault’s mentions of being “adopted Cree” in Parliament in 2016 and 2018 came from an explanation from an Indigenous researcher based on the minister’s understanding of his adoptive family’s history “at the time.”

“It is not the Minister claiming Indigenous status or that he has lived the experiences of Indigenous people, which he has never done,” Hansen wrote by email.

“Adopted individuals can be recognized as eligible for Indigenous status or Metis citizenship, though as we have clearly noted, the Minister has not pursued this process formally for himself, which is why he has previously used language such as ‘non-status adoptive’,” she added.

The MP mentioned his adoptive “full-blooded” Cree great-grandmother five times in the House of Commons from 2016 to 2019. During that period, he was also a member of the Liberal Indigenous caucus.

Boissonnault’s links to Indigenous identity are under scrutiny following revelations last week in National Post that a company he co-owned — Global Health Imports (GHI) — unsuccessfully bid on two federal contracts in 2020 while declaring itself to be “Indigenous” and “Aboriginal owned.” A federal program prioritizes suppliers that properly qualify as Indigenous-owned on some contracts.

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In reaction to the story, the Liberal MP and cabinet minister published a first statement Friday attempting to clarify his heritage. However, the statement raised eyebrows because it no longer made mention of the Cree heritage he had previously publicized, but instead noted members of his adopted family were “status Métis.”

“The family into which I was adopted has Indigenous ancestry with my adopted mother and brother both being status Métis,” Boissonnault posted to X on Friday. “I myself do not have status, though I have participated in Indigenous caucus as an ally throughout my time as an MP.”

It’s really a slap in the face

The minister’s use of different identity claims troubles Merelda Fiddler-Potter, an assistant professor at First Nations University of Canada and a citizen of the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan.

“It’s just shocking,” she said. “For people who were forcibly adopted and removed in the Sixties Scoop, and the amount of work that they have to do, to find their families and reconnect with their communities, it’s really a slap in the face to people who lost community due to nothing they did. And to have somebody else just kind of walk in, and say ‘whatever’ without actually taking any time, it’s just really hurtful.”

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“This is the kind of stuff that’s so hurtful to them,” she said.

In her most recent statement, Boissonnault’s spokesperson clarified that the minister’s adopted mother and brother joined the Métis Nation of Alberta in the past year as a result of “his family exploring their own history.”

“Over the course of this, the Minister has always made a sincere attempt to portray himself and his family history and circumstances accurately,” Hansen wrote.

The same cannot be said of Boissonnault’s former business partner at GHI, Stephen Anderson, Hansen noted. She accused Anderson of being “not credible” and of making claims about GHI on Boissonnault’s behalf without the minister’s knowledge or approval.

“There is no record of Minister Boissonnault ever having claimed GHI as an Indigenous company, nor would he,” she wrote.

In his online statement last week, the employment minister accused Anderson of making “false claims” about the company being Indigenous-owned without his consent.

“There is a long history of non-Indigenous individuals claiming status to access programs,” he said, calling this “wrong and deeply hurtful to Indigenous people.”

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Boissonnault’s statement last week also said that his former role in the Liberal Indigenous caucus was that of an “ally.” But that contradicts the group’s description of itself, published on its website since 2017, that says it is formed “of MPs who are First Nation, Métis and Inuit nations” and who “represent a broad cross section of who Indigenous people are.”

Liberal party spokesperson Parker Lund did not respond to detailed questions about party communications and referred all inquiries about Boissonnault’s role on Indigenous caucus to his social media statement.

Hansen said Tuesday that Boissonnault joined the party’s Indigenous caucus “to represent Alberta and the large urban Indigenous population in his constituency.”

“He joined Indigenous caucus to both learn and to share the stories and concerns he was hearing from constituents,” she noted, adding that he understands that “he has not lived an Indigenous experience and is thus an ally to Indigenous communities, not a member.”

The Liberal party has previously found itself having to modify mentions of Boissonnault’s Indigenous connection.

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After a CBC article on July 29, 2019 identified him as an Indigenous MP, the Liberal party asked weeks later for the description to be changed to explain that Boissonnault’s mother was Cree, but he was not Indigenous.

“The Liberal Party sent a clarification on Sept. 5,” reads a note added by editors to the story. “Boissonnault’s mother is Cree, but he was adopted and does not claim Indigenous heritage.”

Boissonnault also mentioned a parliamentary committee meeting in October 2023 that his Cree name is “Strong Eagle Man.” Hansen said Tuesday that the name was given to him in 2021 by Elder Ed Lavallee from the Edmonton Two Spirit Society.

“The Minister has cited it (the Cree name) as part of his commitment to reconciliation and to advancing the rights of Indigenous peoples,” she wrote.

Shannin Metatawabin, CEO of the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association (NACCA), an advocacy organization representing Indigenous financial institutions, said the changing story only creates more concern about GHI’s claims that it was Indigenous-owned as it bid on federal contracts.

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“The fact remains he attempted to access an Indigenous (procurement) program by claiming himself Indigenous.  If he was successful would have benefitted,” he said.

“All bad actors deserve to be penalized severely to deter and barred from participating in future opportunities,” he said.

Meanwhile, Conservative MPs are calling for Boissonnault’s removal from cabinet over GHI’s Indigenous claims.

“It’s highly suspicious at best. But at worst, it’s fraud,” Conservative ethics critic Michael Barrett told the Commons ethics committee Thursday. His colleague Michael Cooper said Boissonneault has “no place sitting in cabinet.”

The ethics committee had already been investigating Boissonnault’s role in GHI. This was spurred by texts leaked to a reporter that showed Anderson referring to business communications with someone at GHI named “Randy” after Boissonnault was appointed to cabinet and was required by law to no longer be involved in the business.

Anderson has also admitted he lied to a reporter about the identity of the second “Randy,” although he has still refused to publicly identify who the other “Randy” is.

Boissonnault says it is not him.

National Post

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