High school year book photo of Gill sisters, Nadya and Amira Gill
The family of Kitty Noah, the Inuk woman who Toronto twins Amira and Nadya Gill have allegedly claimed as their mother to gain “Inuit status” and access to thousands of dollars in Indigenous scholarship money, say they’ve never heard of them.
The Gills applied for and received Inuit identity through Nunavut Tunngavik Inc, or NTI.
NTI is responsible for ensuring promises made to Inuit under the Nunavut Agreement are carried out, and they enroll Inuit people as beneficiaries of that agreement.
“It has been a complete shock to find out that Amira and Nadya Gill were registered under the Nunavut agreement using the name of my mother,” said Noah Noah, Kitty’s son in a written statement from the family and posted on social media.
The Noah family said while they’ve never heard of the twins but they know of their mother, Karima Manji.
Nunavut Tunngavik membership
Noah, the eldest of Kitty’s seven children, said he is her legal guardian because his mother has suffered two brain injuries in her lifetime and requires daily assistance.
“We do not know the Gill sisters and had no knowledge that they existed, but Karima Manji their mother is known to our family,” said Noah.
In an email March 29, Amira Gill said their Inuit heritage comes through the Noah and Hughes families from Iqaluit, and that their mother lived with a man named Harry Hughes.
Noah explained to a reporter from the Local Journalism Initiative with Nunatsiaq News, that Hughes is his father, who died in 1997. He added that Hughes and Manji briefly dated before Hughes died.
However, it was his mother, Kitty Noah who was listed as a birth mother on the application, according to Noah.
“My mother is a vulnerable person who may have been exploited. It is our priority at this time to protect her dignity.”
Noah has also said his family did not file the complaint with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
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NTI, an organization that handles land claims, enrolment, and resource issues. Nunavut said it has launched an investigation into how the Gill sisters became Inuit members. NTI has repeatedly refused to comment to APTN or say whether the details will be made public.
“We have welcomed the quick response and the action they have taken to remove the Gills from being enrolled as my mother’s children,” said Noah.
“At this point we are also asking for the RCMP to conduct an investigation into this situation.”
APTN asked the RCMP if an investigation has been launched but didn’t hear back by the time this article was published.
APTN has also reached out to Nadya and Amira Gill multiple times but has not heard back.
Karima Manji was charged with defrauding March of Dimes in 2015 for nearly $800,000. According to records obtained by APTN, she was ordered to pay back $250,000.
Inuk writer and throat singer Tanya Taqaq has also spoken out about the money that the sisters got from Indspire scholarships.
“Indspire it would be good to see a statement about Nadya and Amira Gill and the funding they received form (sic) you,” she said in a tweet.
“Identity fraud annoys me but it hits home when they are claiming to be Inuit. Our communities are small, we know each other. We know of each other and our families. There are only around 70,000 of us in Canada. The resources and supports are limited,” said Taqaq in another tweet.
The sisters started a company called Kanata Trade Co. where they credited organizations like Indspire, an Indigenous-owned award granting organization for giving them bursaries to help them succeed.
Amira Gill received two bursaries from Inspire. The amount was not disclosed. She also received scholarship money from HydroOne, Ontario’s utility company for $4,000 and another from RBC worth at least $4,000.
Indspire lists its mission as “Supporting the educational journey so that every Indigenous student will graduate…”
Insdpire has still not responded to requests for comment from APTN.
More information on sisters comes out
Phillip Di Cecco said he went to the same high school with the Gill sisters for a time. He contacted APTN after the news broke that there were claims about the sister’s identities.
Di Cecco provided photos from a yearbook and a photobook commemorating a trip that he and the sisters, who were attending Michael Power, St. Joseph’s High School in the west end of Toronto, took in 2012.
Liam Gill previously told APTN that the sisters had attended “several” high schools including the exclusive private school Toronto Prep School and Toronto French School.
Di Cecco recalls the trip to Pinehouse Lake, Sask., a small community five hours or so north of Saskatoon with a population of about 2,000.
“We participated in activities like smudge ceremonies, witnessed traditional dancers, and stayed in the houses of these people, so they could show us non-native kids their way of life,” said De Cecco
De Cecco said that the twins, who were a few years younger than him were also on the trip. Students had to apply to go on the trip, and both Gill sisters were there.
During this high school trip, the sisters did not share any personal experience of being Inuit, according to De Cecco.
“At the time, they never mentioned ever having any Indigenous ancestry or wanting to connect their own culture, this trip was for kids who were not native to make Indigenous connections.”
With files from Jeff Pelletier – Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
