NDP MLA calls on Sask. government to take action against 'pretendians'

The Opposition NDP is wondering when the Saskatchewan government will develop a plan to ensure jobs aren't being filled by people who falsely claim Indigenous identity.

"There's no accountability when false claims are made. The status quo isn't good enough anymore," Betty Nippi-Albright, NDP critic for First Nations and Métis Relations and Truth and Reconciliation, said during question period Wednesday.

The provincial government relies on self-declaration for things like identity or disability, according to Lori Carr, the minister responsible for the Public Service Commission, the government's central human resource agency.

But CBC News investigations into high-profile figures, such as Carrie Bourassa, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond and, most recently, former University of Regina president Vianne Timmons, have called their Indigenous ancestry into question.

People who falsely claim Indigenous ancestry — sometimes referred to as 'pretendians' — can leverage self-declaration for job opportunities and advancement. In so doing, they take opportunities away from legitimate Indigenous people.

Carr denied that someone who self-declares as Indigenous is at a greater advantage of getting a job — unless, she said, it's a designation such as a First Nations consultant.

Nippi-Albright disagreed.

She wants the government to require employees — or potential employees — who claim to be Indigenous to sign an attestation form, forcing them to prove their identity through documentation when audited.

"At the government level, we know there are many, many pretendians that are in these jobs — in academia, in organizations. It's rampant," she said.

"If you're not hiding anything, you'll produce it."

Proving one's identity is a step the government can take to protect Indigenous people, she said, adding that faking Indigenous identity is a form of colonial violence.

The Saskatchewan government shares such concerns and takes the issue seriously, Minister of Advanced Education Gordon Wyant said in response to Nippi-Albright during question period.

He encouraged anyone with concerns about people who falsely claim Indigeneity to bring them forward, so they can be dealt with by the "appropriate authority."

The government will have to review self-declaration in the future, Carr said.

It hasn't been raised as an issue to the Public Service Commission, thus such an examination hasn't been conducted yet, she said.