Liberal MP maintains Indigenous identity, despite removal from Algonquin group

A Liberal member of Parlia‐ ment says he'll continue identifying as Indigenous, despite being removed from the Algonquins of On‐ tario (AOO) in a recent reg‐ istry cleanup.

The controversial umbrel‐ la organization is tightening enrolment criteria, removing nearly 25 per cent of its elec‐ tors as it presses to conclude a modern treaty with the Canadian and Ontario gov‐ ernments.

But even though Nickel Belt MP Marc Serré is no longer with the Mat‐ tawa/North Bay Algonquin First Nation, he isn't backing away from his identity.

"I still identify as Indige‐ nous and Métis, but I don't identify myself [as Algonquin] since I got the letter," Serré told CBC Indigenous.

Serré said he doesn't in‐ tend to apply to join the Métis Nation of Ontario, which is on the cusp of at‐ taining federal recognition as an Indigenous government.

"I don't need to be a member of an association to identify, and so I have no in‐ tention at this point to apply. I'm going to continue doing my work in supporting In‐ digenous communities," he said.

Serré is among nearly 2,000 former AOO electors swept up in a push to re‐ move non-Algonquins from the group, which previously counted 8,500 members, ac‐ cording to a final statistical reassessment obtained by CBC Indigenous.

The organization com‐ prises 10 communities, Mat‐ tawa/North Bay among them, but only one is federal‐ ly recognized: Algonquins of

Pikwakanagan, roughly 150 kilometres west of Ottawa.

Pikwakanagan filed a land claim to roughly 36,000 square kilometres of un‐ ceded land in eastern On‐ tario in the 1980s.

In an interview, Pik‐ wakanagan Chief Greg Sarazin said AOO was cre‐ ated in the mid-2000s, after Canada and Ontario insisted all people with a claim to Al‐ gonquin rights in the area should be included.

"That then of course led to the Algonquin searching out and finding people of Al‐ gonquin descent," he said.

Pikwakanagan members eventually came to suspect several AOO ancestors added in the process were, in fact, non-Algonquin.

The push to remove them gathered steam in 2020, pick‐ ed up momentum in 2021 and culminated in the re‐ moval of seven disputed an‐

cestors in 2023.

2 negotiators listed as removed

Other prominent individuals removed from the AOO reg‐ istry include two AOO negoti‐ ation representatives, who are elected to lead treaty talks for their communities, and some call themselves chiefs.

Lynn Clouthier, who was a representative for Ottawa, and Connie Mielke, represen‐ tative for Greater Golden Lake, were removed, ac‐ cording to an October 2023 list.

Neither Clouthier

Mielke responded to quests for comment.

In 2021, Clouthier defend‐ ed a contentious land devel‐ opment project in the capital, which Algonquin leaders in Quebec called "wreck-oncilia‐ tion." nor re‐

Facing questions, Clouthi‐ er suggested local officials shouldn't pry into private Al‐ gonquin business dealings.

WATCH | Lynn Clouthier explains joint venture for Ottawa project:

According to a 2015 AOO voters' list, Clouthier and Mielke relied on 19th-century voyageur Thomas Lagarde dit St. Jean and his wife, Sophie Carriere, to establish Algo‐ nquin ties.

Supporting this was a mysterious letter of dubious origin, which a CBC News analysis concluded was likely fake, and which an AOO tri‐ bunal rejected last year.

The removals now raise concerns about a 2016 agreement-in-principle to settle the land claim, under which AOO would get 47,550 hectares, a $300-million pay‐ out and recognition of on‐ going land and resource rights.

Veldon Coburn, an asso‐ ciate professor at McGill Uni‐ versity and a Pikwakanagan member, said he believes the deal is entirely illegitimate if non-Algonquin directed the talks.

"We always knew who we were, and we knew that these individuals - especially the root ancestors they were claiming that would give them their links - were never Algonquin," he said.

Ancestor from 17th cen‐ tury

In Serré's case, his root an‐ cestor was listed as Marie Mitewamewkwe, believed to be an Algonquin woman born in the 1630s. This caught the attention of Uni‐ versity of Ottawa professor Darryl Leroux, who ques‐ tioned Serré's claims during the 2019 election.

In 2020, AOO changed its ancestry system so members must demonstrate a ge‐ nealogical link to an Algo‐ nquin family line from two different historical periods. The first spans from 1728 to 1897, the second from then until 1991.

This seems to disqualify Serré from AOO member‐ ship, and according to Ler‐ oux, Serré wouldn't qualify for the Métis Nation of On‐ tario either.

"There's no Indigenous or‐ ganization that's recognized by any level of government that he can register for," said Leroux.

Serré believes Leroux's questioning was unwarran‐ ted in 2019. Roughly 400,000 Canadians, like him, selfidentify as Métis but aren't registered with a Métis orga‐ nization or settlement, ac‐ cording to the 2021 census.

During the interview, Ser‐ ré waved a copy of his AOO card, saying it was obtained in good faith, with honest be‐ lief in his family's heritage, four years before he entered federal politics.

"[Leroux] went after indi‐ viduals like myself, which I think was wrong because I did not have any titles. I did not have any promotion. I had no benefits. I had my card," Serré said.

Leroux called this state‐ ment misleading. Serré was co-chair of the Liberal Indige‐ nous caucus at the time.

"Now is that a promotion? Was he getting paid more? Maybe not. But he was a high-profile 'Indigenous' member of the Liberal Party caucus," said Leroux.

The notion that a distant ancestor makes one Indige‐ nous today is widely dis‐ puted, said Leroux.

"If [Serré] wants to be In‐ digenous based on that woman, then he has to un‐ derstand that there's largescale opposition to that," Ler‐ oux said.

"And if he did that, there'd be 10 million Canadians who could also do it based on similar ancestry."