Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond speaks to a reporter in Vancouver on Nov. 13, 2015.Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press
Val Napoleon is the Chair of Indigenous Justice and Governance at the University of Victoria, from Saulteau First Nation, and an adopted member of the Gitxsan. Merle Alexander, KC, is an Indigenous lawyer and will begin his hereditary chiefmanship upon following protocols of Kitasoo Xai’xais First Nation.
The truth about our families and the stories of where we come from is often hugely complex. Indigenous people know this intimately. There are First Nation, Inuit and Métis communities that have experienced profound trauma, resulting in individuals hiding their Indigenous ancestry for years – or sometimes, for generations.
For more than 100 years, Indigenous children could be taken from their families to residential schools or into foster homes. To this day, there are places in this country where an Indigenous child can still be taken from its mother through a birth alert. As a result, some Indigenous families did not always identify themselves publicly. Others have complex stories about gaps in our family histories and documentation. Some families have stories you aren’t supposed to talk about or ask about.
This is the profoundly twisted legacy of colonialism. And it is why Indigenous legal authority over citizenship to Indigenous communities must be rearticulated and upheld.
In recent years, many journalists have shone a light on those who have falsely claimed indigeneity. Indeed, there have been those who have been rightfully called out on their fraud and theft of Indigenous identity. In some cases, these individuals lost their recognition and even their livelihoods. But increasingly, the quest to expose the “truth” has morphed into an entertainment-seeking competition for clicks. We also see anger and we have seen lateral violence. And in many cases, reporters have failed to account for the challenging history of Indigenous people and the shame that has been experienced.
In the media and beyond, we have a responsibility to uphold Indigenous legal authority over citizenship in their communities and legal orders. We cannot “cancel” Indigenous citizenship laws. Yet that is exactly what happened in the case of Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, the former judge and advocate whom the CBC alleged was not Indigenous in 2022.
To watch her be viciously torn apart by a single, incomplete investigation was heartbreaking. Many Canadians, and, sadly, many institutions that had previously honoured her, took her refusal to publicly fight back as proof of her guilt. After all, some believed, why would the woman who for decades advocated tirelessly for others, whose efforts no doubt saved Indigenous lives, not advocate for herself?
To expect Indigenous people to advocate for themselves is to ignore how colonial oppression has profoundly imprinted itself on the stories of our families and communities. It is to ignore the pain and confusion that generations of Indigenous people continue to unravel. What right does anyone have to demand that she fight back?
Nonetheless, the frenzy around Ms. Turpel-Lafond resulted in a review by the Law Society of British Columbia. This week, a statement of facts was issued, revealing that in August, 2023, she voluntarily took a DNA test. The results, which were provided to an independent expert for analysis, show that Ms. Turpel-Lafond “most likely has very recent ancestors with substantial indigenous DNA.” She never lied about her Indigeneity.
It never should have come to this. It is not up to anyone other than the First Nation who claims Ms. Turpel-Lafond to say who she is. To this day, she is claimed by the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation according to their laws for more than 30 years. They have their own reasons for doing so. They know who she is. And they do not need that to be validated by a news outlet, the government, or anyone else.
The authority to determine Indigenous citizenship resides with Indigenous peoples according to their citizenship laws. In Ms. Turpel-Lafond’s case, her citizenship is a matter for Cree law, not the court of public opinion.
When Ms. Turpel-Lafond was a provincial court judge in Saskatoon, she created a place of safety and respect for Indigenous teens on trial and for their mothers, whom she invited to speak to the court. They did so by overcoming nervousness, likely informed by previous negative experiences with the legal system. With kindness, she transformed her courtroom into a place where real justice for Indigenous people was possible.
Her entire career has been devoted to tackling colonial oppressions. Her skilled advocacy resulted in real policy changes and increased public awareness.
An injustice was done by allowing a trial by media to erase Ms. Turpel-Lafond’s life’s work and tremendous contributions to Indigenous people in Canada. We hope her honours are restored as swiftly as they were stripped, and that, as Canada continues to move along in our journey to reconciliation, we can ensure Indigenous laws, including those of citizenship, are respected.