Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Dec. 5th, 2024

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

I need to say this. There are so many mistakes that we're all now talking about regarding your identity.

We heard about you claiming to be Cree. We heard you claiming that you are part of the Métis Nation of Alberta. You now seem to have changed your story about the publication from the indigenous Liberal Caucus, asking them to fix that mistake as well. There are so many publications. There are so many interviews in which you claim indigenous identity and claim that's who you are. Then when you race-shift among being Cree, Métis, white and now adopted, what you are sharing with us is hard to believe.

How can we believe that you never told your staff you don't want a publication about your being indigenous? We heard that you instructed your staff to say you are. Now you're saying you've never claimed to be indigenous.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Ms. Idlout, respectfully, I've never indicated to any staff, at any point in my life, to refer to me as indigenous. That's simply not the case. I've always tried to be consistent about who I am. I've never claimed indigenous history. I never said I was Cree. I came up with the term “non-status adopted Cree” because I thought it would honour my family. I thought it would indicate very clearly that I have no status.

I am not Métis. My family recently became members of the Métis Nation of Alberta, but adopted kids like me have no claim to citizenship in the Métis Nation of Alberta. That is as it is. I will never claim indigenous status. I never have. I was adopted into the family that I was adopted into—the only family I know. That is why I have always tried to be very clear about that history.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Jamie Schmale]

Thank you very much, Mr. Boissonnault.

We'll go now to our second round of questioning. We'll start with a five-minute round for the Conservatives.

Go ahead, Mr. Genuis.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Boissonnault, you said today that you came to the term “non-status adopted Cree” through consultation with an indigenous researcher. What was the name of that researcher?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I met with Chad Cowie, who was—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

I'm sorry. Thank you very much.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

—a student doing his Ph.D. at the time, and—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

We know who Professor Cowie is.

In an interview with the National Post, Professor Cowie denied your version of events. The National Post quotes him as saying, “I would not say that I gave him the term that he was ‘non-status adopted Cree'”.

Did Professor Cowie tell the truth to the National Post, and do you now want to correct your opening statement?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

My opening statement was very clear, Mr. Genuis. I said that I chose the term “non-status adopted Cree” after having a conversation with Mr. Cowie. That conversation was almost 10 years ago.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Okay, now it's clearer than it was. You sat down with Professor Cowie and he gave you some advice. You ignored that advice and came up with this term independently, on your own. Then you came back to committee and said, “Well, in the context of a conversation, I came up with this term.”

Frankly, that's what we've come to expect from you, Mr. Boissonnault. I think this is now further revelation of what we have come to expect.

Here is my next question: The Liberal Party's indigenous peoples' commission put an Instagram post up on June 30, 2016, that falsely claims you are indigenous. That post is still up.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Wow.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

You said the error was corrected. Why have social media posts falsely calling you indigenous been left up, even until the present day?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I don't have an answer for why that is still on that party website, Mr. Genuis.

I can tell you that when my name was on a list of indigenous candidates in the 2019 election, I acted very quickly to remove it. I'll see to it that it's removed from—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Okay. Let's just get some clarity on what you meant when you said that the error had been corrected.

There is an error in a June 30, 2016, Instagram post. That error has not been corrected. The post remains up today, in December 2024. What exactly did you mean when you said that the error was corrected?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Genuis, I wasn't aware of that 2016 Instagram post. I was referring to the list of indigenous candidates in 2019 that I was falsely on, and I made that correction, and the error was a—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

You corrected a list in 2019, apparently, but you—

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Not apparently, Mr. Genuis—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

—and your team are not closely monitoring the social media activity of the party that you're a part of.

Was the false claim that the Liberals elected nine indigenous MPs in 2015 ever used in Liberal Party fundraising?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I don't have that information in front of me, and I would not be on that list of candidates.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Okay. Maybe we need to follow up and see how much money the Liberal Party raised off the false claim that there were nine indigenous MPs elected in their caucus in 2015.

Mr. Boissonnault, you have said repeatedly that you've never claimed indigenous status. It should be obvious to everyone that it is an intentional formulation when you say you've never claimed indigenous status, because that is not the same thing as saying you've never claimed to be indigenous.

A person might claim to be indigenous without claiming indigenous status, so let's get around the lawyerly formulation here and ask you the core question: Have you ever claimed to be indigenous?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Genuis, I'm not indigenous and I've never claimed to be indigenous or to have indigenous status. This is a distinction. I'm not sure you where you're going with this, but I'm not indigenous, I don't have indigenous status and I've never claimed either.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

You've never claimed to be indigenous? On April 12, 2016, when you said in the House of Commons that “As a Canadian and as an adopted Cree”, you weren't claiming to be indigenous, and when the Liberal Party of Canada posted that you were indigenous and it was not corrected, you still had never claimed to be indigenous. When your partner claimed that your company was indigenous-owned, you had still never claimed to be indigenous.

There are all these people around you who have publicly claimed that you are indigenous. You have said in the House of Commons that you're indigenous, and now you're before this committee saying that you never did. How can anyone believe anything you say, Mr. Boissonnault?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Genuis, I've never claimed to be indigenous. What I said in the House was that I—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

It's on the record.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

It is not. You're misinterpreting the record. That is not what I said—