Manitoba's political parties not doing enough to verify Indigenous identity: Métis lawyer

Manitoba's political parties are not doing enough to make sure candidates' claims to Indigeneity are legitimate, says Jean Teillet, a lawyer and great-grandniece of Métis Leader Louis Riel.

CBC News asked all three of Manitoba's provincial parties with a seat in the legislature how they ensure Indigenous identity claims are legitimate.

Teillet — who who was appointed as an independent investigator by the University of Saskatchewan to figure out how to prevent Indigenous identity fraud — was critical of all three provincial parties' responses to questions about how they ensure candidates who claim they are Indigenous are who they say they are. 

Teillet's appointment came after University of Saskatchewan professor Carrie Bourassa was suspended and eventually resigned in the wake of a CBC News investigation that found no evidence that she had Indigenous ancestry.

"These individuals are said to be 'wannabees' or 'pretendians,'" Teillet wrote in a report from that investigation. "The advantage they gain is stolen, causes harm and breaches our trust."

All three provincial parties responded to CBC's questions sent in February about ensuring Indigenous identity claims are legitimate.

The NDP stated: "The Manitoba NDP has a rigorous vetting process, and we are proud of our candidates. We are fair and thorough in our assessment of candidates for the NDP."

The Liberals stated: "We do take false appropriation of Indigenous identity seriously, and it would be considered a serious ethical breach by the Manitoba Liberal Greenlight Committee." That committee refers to a candidate screening body.

"It is not up to Manitoba Liberals to determine who is Indigenous. Identity is decided by First Nations themselves and Indigenous organizations. If concerns are raised about a potential candidate's claims to Indigenous identity, it would be raised in an interview. That being said, our party does not ask people to identify themselves based on their culture or orientation."

The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba's nomination committee chair MLA Ralph Eichler at first stated "Ethnic background has been a part of the interview process." When asked for clarification, Eichler wrote "We do not ask what ethnic background for anyone is."

Eichler followed up with "the committee is not really interested in the ethnic aspect of our candidates. More about the person than their ethnicity as a person?" Eichler answered a subsequent follow-up question by stating the nominating committee does not independently corroborate candidates' claims of being Indigenous. 

Teillet says the NDP, which claims to have a "robust" candidate vetting process, did not provide enough details for her to understand whether its vetting process is adequate with respect to Indigenous identity claims.

Teillet said the PCs and Liberals do not, despite what the Liberal party says, take the matter seriously because if they did, they would have a verification process. 

"By not implementing verification, they are tacitly supporting false claims to Indigenous identity. Their failure to act means they are supporting the harms such false identification causes."