Pretendians in our midst

Indigenous peoples have a lower life expectancy, higher risks of disease and mental illness, higher risks of intergenerational trauma, much higher risks of experiencing racism. Our existence is our resistance. And yet, some want to be like us.

Indigenous women, pictured in Ottawa on Feb. 24, 2020, protesting against the Coastal Gas Pipeline. The question of Indigenous identity must go back to the grandmothers to determine. Grandmothers might just uphold a principle of grace—just like holders of counterfeit currency, the holder might not know it’s counterfeit. And grandmothers might just adopt people like we used to do traditionally. Reconciliation means the outsider never defines nor restricts an Indigenous individual’s identity nor belonging. It is up to the community, writes Rose LeMay. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Opinion

BY ROSE LEMAY

November 8, 2021

OTTAWA—Pretendian: Canadian of settler descent and values who claims to be Indigenous in order to gain monetary benefit. And so deeply ironic. Indigenous peoples have a lower life expectancy, higher risks of disease and mental illness, higher risks of intergenerational trauma, much higher risks of...

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