My experience—and I think it's the case for everybody—is that identity is deeply personal, and it's important to get it right. In my case, being adopted into the family that raised me—the only family that I know—I wanted to honour their history and I wanted to do so in a way that was sensitive and respectful to indigenous peoples.
This has been a really tough couple of months for us, but now, here today, I can say that I'm thrilled for my brother and my mother to be part of the Métis Nation of Alberta and to be connected to that community. It helps me to have that clarity. We went all the way through Library and Archives Canada to see which of my ancestors actually had scrip. I have that information. I understand the genealogy completely.
I think it's important for all Canadians to be able to talk not just about their identity and who they are, but also about the heritage that they come from. As more people dug into genealogy, which we saw during the pandemic, there were revelations about people's own identities and about their own family histories that they found surprising, so here we are today.
To your earlier point, Dr. Hanley, the work of this committee could be very important in unpacking that nexus of identity, heritage and status.