Randy Boissonnault, who resigned as employment minister, had long described himself as the great-grandson of a Cree woman, but now acknowledges he was wrong about his family’s ancestry.
Randy Boissonnault, who was Canada’s employment minister until Wednesday, once sat with his Liberal Party’s Indigenous caucus. In Parliament, he has said that he was adopted into a family with Cree heritage. And in interviews, he described himself as the great-grandson of a “full-blooded Cree woman.”
But following reports about his family’s past in The National Post, a Toronto newspaper, Mr. Boissonnault found himself facing accusations from political opponents of “race shifting” or being a “pretendian” — falsely claiming to be Indigenous.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office issued a brief statement announcing that Mr. Boissonnault, the sole cabinet minister from Alberta, “will step away from cabinet” and “focus on clearing the allegations made against him.”
The resignation is another blow to an already embattled Mr. Trudeau, who has made reconciliation with Indigenous people and respect for Indigenous cultures top priorities of his government.
The episode is only the latest high-profile example of what Indigenous people see as brazen attempts to appropriate their culture, in a country whose history includes extensive mistreatment of Indigenous people and attempts to eradicate their cultures.
Mr. Boissonnault has never publicly identified as Indigenous himself, but has said that he was adopted into a family with Cree heritage, although one that was not registered as Indigenous with the federal government.
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
