Dalhousie task force recommends verification process for Indigenous staff, students

A Dalhousie University task force is setting out recommendations for how the school should verify claims to Indigenous heritage made by staff and students.

The idea is not to police Indigenous identity, says the chair of the task force, but to ensure non-Indigenous people aren't taking advantage of resources and opportunities specifically meant for Indigenous people.

The task force was created specifically to address how the school should handle false claims of Indigenous identity. It issued its final report in early October, which found the lack of a consistent policy has led to an "conflict, disillusionment, and an erosion of trust" when people raise concerns about Indigenous identity fraud.

"The university needs to take responsibility for its role and its overreliance on self-identification policies, which have left the door open to issues like Indigenous identity fraud," said Dr. Brent Young.

The task force met with Indigenous people within the university as well as Mi'kmaw, Wolastoqey and Peskotomuhkati communities across the region.

They heard concerns that requiring verification could be seen as "reinforcing colonialism" and could be perpetuating harm, but, ultimately, it's something the community sees as a priority, Young said.

"Now we can move forward ... without the fear that this is something that the university is imposing unilaterally on Indigenous nations," said Young, who is Anishnaabe but was born and raised in Mi'kma'ki, "when in fact, Indigenous nations or people who are part of Indigenous nations, are looking for this."

Verification process

Rather than self-identification, the task force recommends a verification process, by submitting a status card or other documentation. It's similar to what the University of Saskatchewan implemented earlier this year. 

"It's not the role of the university to establish new criteria for what it means to be Mi'kmaw, for instance, but it's for the university to actually turn to the Mi'kmaq and ask those questions," Young said.

It's in line with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People that states Indigenous nations have the right to determine their own membership and citizenship.

The recommended verification process is based on something already being done at Dalhousie's faculty of medicine through the Indigenous Admissions Pathway.

According to the report, the pathway saw a record number of Mi'kmaw and Indigenous students recruited to the undergraduate medical program in 2023.

"We knew that there would be potential for abuse when we would make changes or take measures to mitigate known barriers, like the MCAT for instance," Young said.

"To remove minimum score requirements … would open the door to people falsely claiming Indigenous identity to apply through this pathway."

'Due diligence'

Across Canada, there have been a few high-profile cases of Indigenous identity fraud in academia in recent years, including Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, who was once a tenured law professor at Dalhousie.

"I've been very open about the fact that Dalhousie and other universities have not done their due diligence in ensuring that people applying for jobs or positions or grants or scholarships are who they say they are," said Catherine Martin, who is Mi'kmaw from Millbrook First Nation.

Martin was an adviser on the task force, and has been the director of Indigenous community engagement at the university since the position was created in 2020.

It doesn't only happen in academia. False claims of Indigenous ancestry are starting to be called out more frequently across many disciplines, including CBC's own recent investigation into iconic singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie.

"The issue is the same everywhere, and so I think that it cannot be ignored anymore," she said. "The recommendations cannot sit on the shelf."

In an email, the university said it's "committed to working through the recommendations" with the support and guidance of the task force.

It's already implemented the first recommendation — for university president Kim Brooks to apologize to Indigenous communities for the harms that have come from the university's reliance on self-identification.

"I know the president took this to heart and was very sincere, not just with the apology, but the promise to do more and to look at how we can have reconciliation after truth," Martin said.