With regard to the political gain, well, I mean, you were mentioning some other members of Parliament and some people who are running to be members of Parliament. In those cases, I think those individuals are trying to mobilize as much political capital as they can to gain supporters, so I think it's useful in certain contexts, particularly in certain ridings, to falsely claim to be indigenous. It's not just that it might bring indigenous people to vote for you; it might also bring other Canadians who think that it might help with questions of reconciliation or whatever the case is. I think there's certainly political advantage in a general sort of appeal in certain ridings.
In terms of other political advantages, I briefly spoke about the organization in Quebec that gets funded by the federal government to build indigenous social housing. That organization is very powerful politically. Its leader, the president, who's not an indigenous person, mostly has family members as board members. He basically funnels the money through a mall that he owns. He also has a large ranch in the town that he lives in, and this has all been reported in the news repeatedly. That individual actually benefits greatly, as do his family, friends and allies in that particular community in Quebec. He's a kingmaker, right? That funding comes in, and it gets used in all kinds of different ways that aren't just about social housing, but the housing generally goes to non-indigenous people. So, in some cases, it allows individuals to have some sorts of political levers, I guess you could say.
In the book that I published in 2019, I explain how some individuals started to identify as Métis in parts of Quebec, and they became presidents of organizations that have 5,000 members, right? They, all of a sudden, are able to meet with members of provincial Parliament. They're able to meet with individuals who they never would have before when they weren't indigenous and weren't leading an “indigenous organization”. Sometimes there are movements in society that oppose land claims, etc., so these organizations will often find an audience with those Canadians who see an effort to sort of undermine first nations.