OTTAWA — Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault is apologizing for not being “clear” about his family’s links to Indigenous ancestry as now he says he should have been.
Boissonnault found himself apologizing after the National Post revealed him to have made shifting statements about his ties to Indigenous heritage over his political career, which started by calling himself “non-status adopted Cree” to saying in a statement last week that his adopted mother and brother were Metis citizens.
On Friday, the National Post reported the Indigenous researcher that the minister’s office says he consulted back in 2015 about how to identify himself 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,” he told reporters at an unrelated housing announcement in Edmonton.
Boissonnault said on Friday the family he was adopted into as a baby has Indigenous heritage. He confirmed that both his mother and brother have citizenship with the Metis Nation of Alberta.
For years, the Edmonton MP had referred to his grand-grandmother Lucy Brenneis in both Parliament and community events as being a “full-blooded Cree woman.”
Asked if that was the case on Friday, the minister would not confirm, saying instead that has been his understanding of her most of his adult life.
“I am learning about my family’s heritage in real time,” Boissonnault said on Friday.
“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.”
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. It comes after the National Post reported that for years the party would list Boissonnault as being an Indigenous MP, even though he said last week that he had joined the group as an ally.
“It was a constant back and forth with the party. I did ask them to change it. I did see them change it.”
“I have never put Indigenous claim to any contract or any application in my entire life.”
Scrutiny over his statements began last week after 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 consented to have anyone make mention of his heritage.
National Post
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