Boissonnault apologizes for not being clear about Indigenous ancestry

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OTTAWA — Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault apologized on Friday for not having been “clear” about his family’s links to Indigenous ancestry as he now says he should have been. 

Boissonnault found himself apologizing after the National Post revealed he had made shifting statements about his ties to Indigenous heritage over his political career, starting when he began calling himself “non-status adopted Cree.” He changed that in a statement last week, saying his adoptive mother and brother were Metis citizens.

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Indigenous academics and other critics raised concerns about the minster’s remarks amid a growing awareness about high-profile Canadians falsely claiming Indigenous identity.

On Friday, Boissonnault defended his actions as him not being clear enough about his adoptive family’s history, not him trying to present himself as Indigenous. 

“I’ve been reflecting on this a lot over the past days,” he told reporters at an unrelated housing announcement in Edmonton.

“I was adopted into an Indigenous family, and I have never claimed Indigenous status.”

The National Post reported earlier on Friday that the Indigenous researcher the minister’s office says he consulted back in 2015 about how to identify himself ahead of the federal election says he did not endorse the term “non-status adopted Cree,” which Boissonnault would use for years. 

“I sought out advice to know how to talk about my family when I was running, and I want to say unequivocally that I apologize for not being as clear about my family history as I could have been with everything that I know now,” the minister said.

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Boissonnault repeated on Friday that his adoptive family has Indigenous heritage. He say both his mother and brother have Metis Nation of Alberta citizenship. They obtained their citizenship within the past year, according to his office.

The 54-year-old Edmonton MP was first elected in 2015. He served until 2019 when he lost his seat in an election that fall, but was re-elected in 2021. Boissonnault is one of two Liberal MPs from Alberta, which bleeds conservative blue, and is the sole representative for the province in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet.

Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre took to X to call on Boissonnault to resign, calling him “a fake and a fraud.”

Billy Morin, a former chief of the Enoch Cree Nation in Alberta, who is running for the federal Conservatives in Edmonton in the next election, along with Sayid Ahmed, who is vying to battle Boissonnault for his seat, released a statement on Friday echoing Poilievre’s call.

“He finally said he’s sorry for faking his identity, but he’s just sorry he got caught,” said Morin.

Boissonnault began speaking publicly about his connections to Indigenous identity shortly after the 2015 election. In Parliament, he repeatedly referred to a great-grandmother named Lucy Brenneis, whom he sometimes called “Lucy Brown Eyes,” as being a “full-blood Cree woman.”

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Asked Friday if that was the case, the minister wouldn’t confirm it, saying instead that that had been his understanding of her growing up until “well into my 40s and 50s.”

“I am learning about my family’s heritage in real time,” Boissonnault said.

“And so I apologize if I haven’t been clear. And I, you know, I could have been clearer about my family’s heritage, but I’m learning a lot more about that heritage, and so I’ll be very clear about how I refer to my family and myself moving forward.”

He said he would need to check whether his great-grandmother has Metis heritage, given that he has said both his adopted mother and brother have their citizenship.

The Metis Nation of Alberta previously told the National Post it has a “rigorous” citizenship process and requires applicants have a biological connection to Metis ancestry. It does not have a policy on adoption. That contradicted an earlier statement from Boissonnault’s office, which said adopted individuals could be eligible.

The minister also confirmed on Friday that he had asked the Liberal party to change communications it would send out when he used to sit as a member of the Liberals’ Indigenous caucus. The request comes after the National Post reported that for years the party listed Boissonnault as being an Indigenous MP, even though he said last week that he had joined the caucus as an ally.

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“It was a constant back and forth with the party. I did ask them to change it. I did see them change it,” he said.

“I have never put Indigenous claim to any contract or any application in my entire life.”

The Liberal party had advertised Boissonnault as being an Indigenous MP from 2016 until 2019. A statement from the party has not yet been released.

Scrutiny over the minister’s claims to Indigenous identity began last week after the National Post revealed the company he co-owned had bid on federal contracts reserved for Indigenous suppliers by calling itself “Indigenous” and “Aboriginal owned.”

The minister has said his former business partner was the one to have made those bids. Boissonnault said he never consented to have anyone make mention of his heritage.

National Post
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