Canada’s endless “pretendian” scam

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/08/2023 (759 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Pretending to be a North American “Indian” — informally called “pretendianism” — for fame, fortune, or other reasons began 250 years ago.

Although non-Native people in the United States tried to construct national and personal identities through the performance of Indian dress and ritual as far back as 1773, the first famous Canadian example of Indigenous identity theft involved Archibald Stansfeld Belaney (1888-1938), better known as Grey Owl, a British-born conservationist, fur trapper, and writer who disguised himself as an Indigenous man.

While he achieved fame as a conservationist during his life, along with some wealth from his book writing, after his death, the revelation that he was not Indigenous, along with other autobiographical fabrications, effectively destroyed his reputation.

As the benefits have increased, so have the number of pretendians.

Stopping this fraudulent practice has been difficult in Canada given the large and growing benefits reaped, compounded by other psychological motivations like a desire to explore imagined roots and personal trauma like a difficult upbringing, prompting hoaxers to publicly embrace victim status.

Still, a lust for power, privilege, prestige, and prosperity seem the overriding factors.

Some of this has been group-based. On Sept. 13, 2021, CBC News reported on their ongoing investigation into a “mysterious letter” dated 1845 (but never seen before 2011) that is now considered a forgery. Based on a single ancestor listed in this letter, over 1,000 people were enrolled as Algonquin people, making them “potential beneficiaries of a massive pending land claim agreement involving almost $1 billion and more than 500 square kilometres of land.”

The CBC investigation used handwriting analysis, and other methods of archival and historical evaluation to conclude the letter is a fake. This has led the federally recognized Pikwakanagan Indian Band to renew efforts to remove these pretendian claimants from their membership.

In October 2022, Jean Teillet, great-grandniece of Louis Riel wrote in the Globe and Mail: “Why do they do it? Indigenous impersonation is not an accident. People do it to get something they want — to stop Indigenous people from closing a land claim, to access hunting and fishing rights, or to gain access to jobs.

“And the payoff is well worth it. Imposters in the academy gain six-figure jobs, prestige, grants and tenure in exchange for a few lies. This kind of impersonation can only be carried out by those with immense privilege. It takes a person with enough knowledge of the gaps in the system to exploit them.”

Though there are gains for these imposters, there are corresponding losses for Indigenous people, as the Algonquin case shows.

In 2019, Rebecca Nagle, an Indigenous American activist and writer, argued that:

“Pretendians perpetuate the myth that Native identity is determined by the individual, not the tribe or community, directly undermining tribal sovereignty and Native self-determination. To protect the rights of Indigenous people, pretendians… must be challenged and the retelling of their false narratives must be stopped.”

Most Indigenous leaders and activists have fully supported this position.

The latest presumed Canadian pretendian is Kevin Klein — no, not the famous Hollywood actor with a similarly pronounced name, but an alleged actor nonetheless — who has just been outed for presumably faking Métis status.

As one observer has rightly claimed, “Practically every month, somewhere in the country, some person comes under fire for claiming their ancestors frolicked with the moose instead of merely watching from the bushes.”

Manitoba’s Kevin Klein is the province’s energy minister.

For the past several months, the word “Métis” has been removed from Klein’s personal accounts — first from his biography on Twitter, and then from his website — but the government record continues to refer to him as a “proud Métis Canadian.”

Klein explained he removed the Métis reference because he didn’t want to offend anybody while he continued to learn about his ancestry, a questionable assertion at best.

The Manitoba government’s website continues to identify Klein as Métis, even though Métis associations, a prominent Métis lawyer, and Klein’s brother all dispute the claim.

Klein says he belongs to the Painted Feather Woodland Métis, an organization not recognized by either the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) or the Métis Nation of Ontario. Rather, it’s a for-profit company based out of a single-family residence near a small community northeast of Toronto.

“I’m not self-identifying, nor am I using it, nor am I mentioning it every time I open my mouth. It is a family issue for me and a connection to my mother,” Klein said in an interview during his failed run for mayor of Winnipeg last fall.

In a new statement to The Canadian Press, MMF president David Chartrand gave a warning to some who claim Métis status.

“There are many today — especially in Ontario and further east — who are trying to steal a People, a Nation and an identity. The Painted Feather Woodland group are no different,” David Chartrand, president of the Manitoba Métis Federation, said in a written statement.

“Our message to Kevin Klein is this: please take your personal journey in private. If not, we will hold you accountable for the theft of our Nation.”

Genealogical research done by CBC News — some going back five generations — found no evidence Klein’s mother has a Métis or other Indigenous ancestor.

But Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said she won’t judge whether the former mayoral candidate and city councillor is Métis.

“Look, in our party we don’t police people’s identity and I think that Minister Klein does an incredible job in his ministerial portfolio. He also does a great job representing his constituents. Those are the things that we care about.”

This is a lame excuse because some kind of “policing” is what most Indigenous leaders and activists are demanding and obtaining to protect their special constitutional and other rights.

The result of the careful verification of Indigenous heritage among prominent individuals over the past couple of years has seen their exposure and removal, something the premier surely knows.

That Klein may have culturally appropriated Métis status as a ticket to a better way of life seems to be of no concern to a political leader behind in the polls but desperate to maintain power. With the largest proportion of Indigenous people in any province, Stefanson is reluctant to lose one of only two Indigenous cabinet ministers so close to an early October provincial election.

But if Stefanson does not expel Klein from her cabinet, she risks losing plenty of Indigenous votes and perhaps some seats.

As for Klein, if he soon resigns or is removed from office, he would be the highest ranking elected Canadian politician to ever be deplatformed in this way.

Hymie Rubenstein is a retired professor of anthropology, University of Manitoba, and editor of The REAL Indigenous Issues Newsletter.