Boyden still vague about roots

Academics say author should be more specific about heritage

TORONTO • Joseph Boyden’s recent public statement and interviews about his indigenous roots are too vague and don’t fully address the controversy surrounding his heritage, academics say.

Late last month, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network reporter Jorge Barrera launched an investigation into claims of indigenous ancestry the novelist has made, and the evidence — or lack thereof — to back it up.

On Wednesday, Boyden released a statement saying his heritage isn’t neatly laid out in official records but instead rooted in stories told by his family. He described himself as “a white kid from Willowdale with native roots.”

The Scotiabank Giller Prize winner behind Through Black Spruce also expressed similar sentiments in an interview with CBC Radio’s Q, which aired Thursday.

“I think the key thing that remains unaddressed by him is the actual content of the original APTN investigation, and that investigation more or less said not only that he gave conflicting statements on his identity but the genealogical research showed that by the looks of things, he doesn’t actually have indigenous ancestry,” says Adam Gaudry, assistant professor in the faculty of native studies and department of political science at the University of Alberta.

“So while he maintains in the (Q) interview and the statement that he has indigenous ancestry, how that ancestry exists is open to a lot of questions.”

David Newhouse, chairman of indigenous studies at Trent University, says there are four official ways one can make a claim to be an indigenous person.

The first is on the basis of indigenous ancestry.

The second is membership to an indigenous community or that one meets the criteria for a particular community membership.

The third is by claiming to be a member of an aboriginal nation.

The last is either being entitled to be registered under the Indian Act or meeting the Supreme Court of Canada definition of Metis.

“He made a claim at one point about Metis but has since dropped that,” Newhouse says. “Now he’s made a claim under community but hasn’t told us what community he belongs to. And he’s made a claim about ancestry but hasn’t produced the documentary record.

“I know he has a family history and people say ‘We know this to be true,’” Newhouse adds. “But ... it doesn’t appear to be very specific and no one has been able yet to test it.”

Gaudry says if Boyden has family stories that can change how the APTN investigation is interpreted, he should release them. He should also identify with a particular indigenous community which in turn claims him and his family back.