The Canadian professor claimed to be of Indigenous descent, but was exposed by her sister and her colleagues as Eastern European. She was put on leave from her university and continues to self-identify herself as a member three tribes.
Carrie Bourassa, the scientific director of the Institute of Indigenous Peoples’ Health for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, has claimed to be of the Métis, Anishinaabe and Tlingit tribes without ever actually presenting proof, only self-identifying.
Bourassa or Morning Star Bear’s colleagues and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation searched and failed to locate any Indigenous relatives. Jody Burnett, her sister, stated that Bourassa’s ‘description’ of her family was inaccurate, not rooted firmly in fact, and irrelevant to the question of whether or not it is true. [she] is Métis.’
Bourassa was put on leave by the University of Saskatchewan and stated in a statement that she does not need to prove her claims. She also accused her tribe of investigating her heritage.
Bourassa stated that he must adhere to Western ideologies such as blood quantum to prove something that the communities that I serve, the Elders that support me, and myself already understand. He was referring to controversial methods that some tribes in the US use to acknowledge their members via DNA percentages.
‘Blood quantums are not our way, but I have been working with a Métis genealogist to investigate my lineage.’
She said that her own investigation started two years ago and is still ongoing.
Carrie Bourassa has recently come under fire as her family, colleagues, and an investigation by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation claim she has no Indigenous heritage
Bourassa, pictured as a child, has claimed to be born of the Métis, Anishinaabe and Tlingit tribes without ever actually presenting proof. She later said she was adopted into the Métis tribe in her 20s by a friend of her grandfather
Jody Burnett, Bourassa’s sister, released a statement on the family’s behalf which stated the ‘description of our family is inaccurate, not rooted in fact and moreover is irrelevant to the issue of whether or not Carrie Bourassa is Métis’
For nearly 20 years Bourassa, now in her late 40s, said that she was born into a family with Métis, Anishnaabe and Tlingit roots but later claimed that she was adopted into the Métis tribe by her late grandfather’s friend, Clifford Laroque.
“Even though Clifford has passed, these bonds are stronger than death because my family has taken me as their blood relative. In turn, I serve the Métis community to the best of my ability,’ she wrote in a statement.
‘In our Métis ways, in the event of a loss, community members would adopt the individual who had no family and they would then automatically be seen as family,’ she continued. We refer to this as custom adoption. Those adoptions were more meaningful than colonial adoptions and had stronger bonds.
Bourassa has yet to explain why she claimed for the majority of her career that she was born into a Métis family.
Bourassa shared this slide of family photos during a 2019 Ted Talk when she discussed her difficult upbringing during which her Métis grandfather, Ladislav ‘Laddie’ Knezacek, (pictured right) inspired her to work hard to break the cycle of ‘intergenerational trauma’
Bourassa compared her investigation into her heritage with the controversial US quantum blood tests that provide DNA percentages of an individual’s Indigenous heritage
Colleagues of the Indigenous public health expert grew skeptical of her Indigenous ancestry as she began to claim connections to more Indigenous communities and dress in more stereotypical Indigenous garb (Pictured: University of Saskatchewan professor Caroline Tait, left, Bourassa, center, and Marg Friesen, minister of health for the Métis Nation Saskatchewan, right)
Caroline Tait, a Métis professor and medical anthropologist at the University of Saskatchewan who has worked with Bourassa for over 10 years, said she began to question her colleague’s ancestral claims as Bourassa began noting ties to the Anishinaabe and Tlingit communities and dressing in more stereotypically Indigenous styles.
Tait said she and other colleagues’ doubts peaked when they learned that Bourassa’s sister had stopped claiming Métis ancestry after looking further into her genealogy.
Winona Wheeler, an associate professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Saskatchewan, and Janet Smylie, a Métis family medicine professor from the University of Toronto who worked with Bourassa, joined Tait in her suspicions.
Tait confronted Bourassa regarding what she initially believed were rumors. Bourassa replied in an email: ‘I have twice done my genealogy and received Métis local memberships and I am accepted in the community.’ She has never shared her genealogies.
Tait said Bourassa is a product of Eastern Europe, namely Russians, Polish and Czechoslovakia.
Tait explained to the CBC that Carrie Bourassa was one of the most difficult challenges we faced. She was supervising students, giving lectures, attending conferences, and interfacing with our elders.
“When the news came out, [we knew]There would be students and people who were hurt. The hardest part is the people who looked up at her.
Carrie Bourassa has been placed on unpaid leave at the University of Saskatchewan, pictured
She said that while she was happy that Bourassa was placed on leave by the University of Saskatchewan, it is important to have a wider conversation about how Indigenous people should be recognized.
Tait posted on Facebook, “It was heartbreaking to watch so many amazing Indigenous academics leave our university because it didn’t feel safe and supported like First Nations and Metis people.”
Rob Innes, Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies at McMaster University, claimed the Canadian Institute of Health Research’s system was flawed as it only asks members of its Indigenous Canada Research Chairs to self-identify.
“How many CRCs are there that are Indigenous? No one knows. How can universities find out if their CRCs even identify as Indigenous? They don’t know – they only know they self-identified. Even though universities state that identity is a private matter [but]They also publicly boast about the number of Indigenous CRCs that they have,” he wrote in an Facebook Post.
He also commended Tait’s and her colleague’s for speaking up, given that Bourassa occupied a powerful position in both Canada Institute of Health Research as well as the university. The university promoted her ancestry via announcements and podcasts.
‘The repercussions of speaking about someone like Carrie Bourassa (the top Canadian organization that funds health and medical research) could be serious. Smylie, Tait, and Smylie are highly respected health researchers. But speaking out could endanger their careers, or worse, make them redundant.
The Carrie Bourassa case has sparked discussion about how institutions can properly vet someone who claims to belong to an Indigenous tribe.
Bourassa claims Johanna Salaba, her great-grandmother was Tlingit, and that she married an immigrant. They moved from the far north B.C. They moved from the far northern B.C. to Saskatchewan, where they had a family.
CBC claims that Salaba, according to the passenger manifest and Census records they reviewed, left Russia in 1911 with her mother and sister. She was listed as a Czech-speaking Russian and unable to speak English.
Marie Salaba (a 99-year old relative) confirmed that Bourassa’s great-grandmother spoke Czech.
Salaba married a Russian-born farmer with whom she shared 10 children, one of which was Ladislav ‘Laddie’ Knezacek- Bourassa’s grandfather who she has repeatedly claimed was Métis.
“This grandfather that” [Bourassa]Wheeler stated that was what he was always talking about was not Indigenous.
Burnett, Bourassa’s sister, told CBC: ‘growing up as a child, I didn’t identify as Métis.’
She explained that she was first told of her alleged Métis ancestry in 2002 when her sister invited her to a meeting with Larocque when he ‘provided confirmation that our family had [Métis]Lineage in B.C. and insisted that she’should feel confident in representing me as such.
‘I was not shown any documentation — rather, it was shared with me verbally.’ Laroque then provided Burnett with a certificate of membership in a Métis local in 2006. For years Burnett claimed Métis roots even accepting scholarships due to her supposed Indigenous genealogy and writing her PhD dissertation on gambling issues in Indigenous communities.
But in 2014, Burnett stopped claiming Métis roots after her ‘husband completed a family tree through a genealogical software program. From that point on, I did not feel certain of my heritage and as such, have stopped identifying as Métis.’
‘She is not Métis. She is the modern-day Grey Owl,” Tait said, referring to a British conservationist who convinced people of their false Native American heritage in the early 1900s.
Bourassa’s coworkers, many of whom are Indigenous community members, were deeply offended by her claims. They sent a letter with the information they had gathered to the U of S as part of an official misconduct complaint. Bourassa claimed that the letter was dismissed.
The university released the following statement: “USask has placed Doctor Bourassa under leave and she is relieved of all of her duties as Professor in the USask College of Medicine, Department of Community Health and Epidemiology.
Dr. Bourassa will not be returning to any faculty duties during the investigation.
“The University of Saskatchewan has carefully reviewed Dr. Carrie Bourassa’s responses to recent articles that challenged her Indigenous identity and interviews.
“The university is concerned with Dr. Bourassa’s responses to the media, and the potential harm this information could cause Indigenous individuals and communities.
Michael Strong, president of CIHR released a statement as well: ‘Today we spoke with Dr. Carrie Bourassa scientific director of CIHR Institute Of Indigenous Peoples’ Health (CIHR–IIPH), and she agreed to step down from all her duties of scientific director of this Institute.
“Dr. Bourassa will therefore be on an indefinite leave with no pay effective immediately.
The statement read, “I acknowledge the pain that Indigenous Peoples have experienced as a result, and would like to emphasize CIHR’s absolute dedication to reconciliation and continuing the acceleration of the self-determination Indigenous Peoples in healthcare research,”
Following the publication of the CBC probe, she released a statement claiming that the outlet had launched a’smear’ campaign. She stated that she was’shocked’ and ‘dismayed’ at the recent attack against her identity.