An NDP MP says Randy Boissonnault had no choice but to resign from cabinet this week over allegations that he falsely claimed to be Indigenous.
“His [alleged] abuse of the system when it comes to claiming to be Indigenous for the purpose of accessing funds that were set aside for Indigenous people, that is brutal,” said Blake Desjarlais, who is from the Fishing Lake Métis Settlement in northern Alberta. “That’s the highest form of racism we have in the country.
“All of it is unacceptable and has no place in the cabinet.”
Boissonnault, who had been the employment minister, resigned from cabinet on Wednesday after mounting pressure all week due to shifting claims of Indigenous heritage and various media reports that a company he co-owned claimed to be Indigenous when applying for a federal contract in 2020.
Boissonnault and Desjarlais both represent Edmonton ridings.
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Desjarlais added it has become clear there needs to be more severe consequences when it comes to those who falsely claim Indigenous heritage.
“We need to actually create a framework of ensuring that people lose access to whatever they’ve benefitted from through the course of claiming to be Indigenous,” he said.
None of the allegations have been proven and Boissonnault has not spoken publicly about the issue. APTN News has reached out to his Edmonton and constituency and Parliamentary office but has not heard back.
The National Post reported that Boissonnault said that after reflecting on the outcry, he was adopted into an Indigenous family and that he had “never claimed Indigenous status.”
However, Boissonnault was listed as a member of the Liberal Indigenous caucus when Trudeau first took power in 2015.
Apology coming to Inuit
The Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations says people in Nunavik suffered unimaginable hardships due to slaughter of more than 1,000 sled dogs in the area in the 1950s and 1960s.
“Inuit men and women, particularly men, lost their self determination over their livelihood and way of life,” Gary Anandasangaree said. “That’s impacted in both an emotional sense but also has created enormous harm to the family structure. In the last several decades since that happened many people have passed on that were severely impacted. There’s inter-generational trauma that has resulted from the dog slaughter.”
The government sanctioned slaughter was performed by agencies such as the RCMP and Hudson’s Bay Company.
Anandasangaree will travel to Nunavik in northern Quebec on Nov. 23 to make a formal apology.
