Answers must follow questions of Indigenous ancestry

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/09/2023 (456 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kevin Klein — former Winnipeg city councillor, mayoral candidate and Manitoba environment minister and current Progressive Conservative MLA candidate for Kirkfield Park — told a voter during a telephone town hall meeting last month she had no right to question his claim that he is Métis.

After being asked why he is trying to “appropriate Indigenous identity,” Klein admonished the female voter, saying: “You don’t have any right to question my Indigenous heritage. You have no right to do that.”

He continued, sternly: “For you to say that I am trying to diminish the identity of the Métis, I’m sorry, you are absolutely wrong, and just because you say it doesn’t mean it’s true.”

On numerous platforms and during previous campaigns for councillor, mayor and MLA, Klein has said he is a “Métis Canadian” and member of the Painted Feather Woodland Métis — a private group that has no recognition (beyond themselves) as an Indigenous or Métis community and offers membership cards to purchase for anyone who claims Indigenous ancestry.

Klein has said his claim of Métis identity is a private matter.

“This is about my life, this is about our family’s history,” Klein told reporters in July. “This is about a personal process that I want to go through and I will go through alone. And it will not be public.”

Besides the fact campaigns and candidate websites are public and voters have a right to ask candidates about their life (a fact frequently claimed when people ask about Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew’s background, for example), let’s be clear: Indigenous people always have a right to ask other Indigenous people who they are, where they come from and what they’re doing here.

Indigenous people ask these kinds of questions of one another every single day.

Being able to locate another person’s place in the world — and therefore their history, culture, ancestry and geography — is the most important way Indigenous peoples communicate with one another.

This is also the way they make determinations about Indigenous nations, who gets to partake in ceremonies and run things such as businesses and schools, and who gets to make decisions about Indigenous futures.

These days — for reasons including residential schools, the child welfare system and adoption — lots of Indigenous people don’t know where they come from.

For those who do not, elders and community members will encourage that person to search, make connections and learn the language, and therefore “come home.” Often, help for this journey will be offered too.

Questions will be asked about individuals claiming Indigenous identities not to hurt a person but help heal them, connect with them, all the while protecting Indigenous communities and nations from outsiders who want to exploit and undermine.

The problem with Klein’s claim of Métis identity is it doesn’t match up with what legitimate, recognized Métis people claim Métis identity is.

Métis people don’t claim Klein as Métis. Instead, a dubious, for-profit, ahistorical private entity does (and who knows if that’s true, as he purchased membership).

Kevin Klein has no Métis ancestry either. He claims to have “DNA evidence” but has never shared it.

This has resulted in others telling his story. A CBC investigation into Klein’s genealogy found no Métis ancestors going back five generations (128 great-grandparents, for anyone keeping score).

In response, Klein offered no further proof, but argued the CBC research is “flawed” and threatened legal action.

Klein has said his claims come through his mother and uncle, both of whom are dead.

His brother, on the other hand, has told media their family is not Métis.

The primary authority in Canada on who is Métis, the Manitoba Métis Federation, says he is not Métis.

The Métis Nation of Ontario (which recognizes some communities the MMF does not) also says the Painted Feather Woodland Métis are illegitimate.

Could Klein have some Indigenous ancestry? Yes, but ancestry alone does not make one Indigenous or Métis — working, learning and earning trust and recognition by other Métis as a Métis citizen does. Ancestry just gets you in the front door.

There is a possibility Klein simply doesn’t know where he comes from. If that’s the case, someone claiming something he knows nothing about is not a good quality in a politician.

Klein should and must answer questions about who he is, if he claims to be an authentic Métis person.

Because answering questions about who you are and where you come from is the most Indigenous thing of all.

» Niigaan Sinclair is Anishinaabe and is a columnist at the Winnipeg Free Press. This column previously appeared in the Free Press.