Former Saskatchewan Provincial Court judge Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond has been removed from the Order of Canada after a year of controversy about her claims of indigenous ancestry.
A notice in the Nov. 4 edition of the Canada Gazette revealed Rideau Hall, at Ms. Turpel-Lafond’s request, revoked her membership in the Order of Canada. The request was approved by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon through an ordinance signed Sept. 26.
“Stealing Indigenous inter-generational trauma and identities brings very real consequences,” the group wrote. “We thank the Governor-General of Canada for correcting a wrong that was committed.”
Ms. Turpel-Lafond has either returned or been stripped of a variety of honorary degrees and awards after an investigation by CBC into her indigenous ancestry found her claims to be false.
She has returned honorary degrees from a number of universities, including Simon Fraser University and Brock University. McGill, Carleton, and the University of Regina have all rescinded awards bestowed on her.
Ms. Turpel-Lafond claimed to have been born and raised the daughter of a Cree father in Norway House, one of the largest indigenous communities in Manitoba. She was honoured as “the first Indigenous woman” appointed to the Provincial Court in Saskatchewan in 1998.
CBC News published documents last October showing Ms. Turpel-Lafond was actually born and raised in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The documents revealed her parents had “no obvious Indigenous roots.”
The controversy caused a Manitoba Cree senator last year to suggest hearings on “identity fraud” be held with a focus on local celebrities who claim to be of First Nations, Inuit, or Métis ancestry.
“What would you think if I told you I have decided I am going to be a white woman?” asked Sen. Mary Jane McCallum, a former residential school student.
Ms. McCallum, according to Blacklock’s Reporter, asked that senators “denounce the revelations of Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond’s deceit and identity fraud.”
Alberta Sen. Paula Simons, during a debate on the motion, called the practice of “pretending to be First Nations, Inuit or Métis as a way to further your career or just make yourself seem more interesting is clearly dishonest and immoral.”
“Such fakery is an audacious insult, a slap in the face to any authentic Indigenous person who has spent a lifetime coping with racism, economic injustice and social inequity,” she added.
The news of Ms. Turpel-Lafond’s Order of Canada loss comes as honours for self-identified Canadian Cree musician Buffy Sainte-Marie are being scrutinized.
The CBC program Fifth Estate, during its Oct. 27 broadcast, called into question Ms. Sainte-Marie’s roots, saying she is neither Canadian nor Cree. CBC reported that it had found a birth certificate that showed she was born in Massachusetts to white parents, and not on a Piapot Cree reservation in Saskatchewan as she had claimed.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
