To stop pretendians, universities, Indigenous communities must work together – Windspeaker.com

March 27th, 2023

“Theories as to why some non-Indigenous peoples have taken on these false identities and have dug in or continue to dig in… is (that they are) striving for that sense of collective identity, that sense of belonging.” — Dr. Jacqueline Ottmann

Indigenous academic leaders are frustrated about how long it took universities to respond to charges of Indigenous identity fraud with well-known scholars Carrie Bourassa, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond and others.

“There’s that need again to have dialogue about the impact of Indigenous identification fraud,” said Dr. Jacqueline Ottmann. She is co-chair of the National Indigenous University Senior Leaders’ Association (NIUSLA), president of the First Nations University of Canada (FNUC) and is Saulteaux.

NIUSLA was created late in 2021, in part, to ensure scholars don’t fraudulently claim Indigenous identity. It has 47 members from universities across the country. Membership does not include community colleges. NIUSLA and FNUC hosted the second annual National Indigenous Citizenship Forum in Regina last week.

Read More: https://windspeaker.com/news/windspeaker-news/stop-pretendians-universities-indigenous-communities-must-work-together