Public figure, private journey — not acceptable

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/08/2023 (1030 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg is home to Canada’s largest Indigenous population, and Manitoba as a whole has the highest percentage of Indigenous people of any province. It is the birthplace of the Métis Nation. It is where Louis Riel led the Red River Resistance and paved the way for the creation of this province.

To claim association with those communities without proof is not only disrespectful, but deeply damaging — especially when it comes to those in positions of power.

Last week, CBC News published an investigation into the validity of Tory MLA Kevin Klein’s claims of Métis heritage. While the cabinet minister has publicly identified his late mother, Joanne Winacott, as Indigenous, the outlet found no evidence of such heritage in genealogical records going back five generations.

Klein has described himself as a “proud Métis Canadian” online and has pointed to his membership with the Painted Feather Woodland Métis — an Ontario-based group that doles out status cards in exchange for membership fees and is not recognized by legitimate national Métis governments — as substantive proof of his background.

Yet, in the CBC report the president of the Manitoba Métis Federation, a prominent Métis lawyer and Klein’s youngest brother all disputed the ancestry claims.

In the days since, the rookie minister — who was born Harold Kevin Rout Jr., but changed his name to Kevin Elvis Klein — has threatened legal action against the CBC and pushed back against the allegations, categorizing his claims to Métis heritage as a private and personal journey.

MMF president David Chartrand pulled no punches on the issue.

“Our message to Kevin Klein is this: please take your personal journey in private. If not, we will hold you accountable for the theft of our Nation,” he wrote in a statement.

While Klein is entitled to his own journey of self-discovery, he lost the right to privacy when he decided to publicly identify as Métis. Scrutiny, by the media and public, is warranted when such claims have the power to further a political career.

Klein, a former City of Winnipeg councillor, gained additional media attention related to his purported Indigenous identity during the 2022 Winnipeg mayoral race. Premier Heather Stefanson has also referred to Klein’s stated heritage as an example of diversity within her caucus while commenting on the importance of Indigenous representation within government.

Even if the cabinet minister isn’t using his alleged identity as a tool for political gain, his party certainly is.

Cases of race-shifting are nothing new in Canada. The term “pretendian” — someone who claims Indigenous heritage, but has none — has entered the cultural zeitgeist in recent years following high-profile cases of false identity involving author Joseph Boyden, filmmaker Michelle Latimer, University of Saskatchewan professor Carrie Bourassa and former judge Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond.

On the East Coast, claims of self-identified Métis heritage have grown exponentially, giving non-native residents controversial access to hard-earned Indigenous rights and benefits.

In a country where First Nation, Métis and Inuit people have survived — and continue to suffer from — government attempts at cultural eradication, claims of Indigenous ancestry by those in power cannot be taken lightly.

This kind of identity fraud is another form of Indigenous erasure and exploitation.

Klein may be on a personal journey, but he cannot ignore the public impact and historical context of his ancestry claims. Unless Klein is able to provide sound evidence of his alleged background, Winnipeggers have every right to question the identity and motives of their elected representative.

So far, the burden of proof has not been satisfied.

» Winnipeg Free Press and The Brandon Sun