Vancouver curator’s Indigenous ancestry claims panned as ‘pretendian’

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Recent revelations that a Vancouver arts curator’s claims to Indigenous identity may be fraudulent adds to growing concerns about race-shifting in the arts and academic communities, where false claims of Indigenous identity can reap rewards and leave real Indigenous community members out in the cold.

Cheyanne Turions, a curator at SFU galleries, was outed as a “pretendian” last week after @nomoreredface published a Twitter thread that included screenshots of grants that Turions received from the Canada Council that were intended for Aboriginal curators, and worth $73,000, and another for $30,000 from the Ontario Arts Council.

Turions declined to be interviewed, but referred Postmedia to her blog, where she writes that a recent review of historical sources shows no documentation to corroborate family claims to Indigenous ancestry. She has amended her bio from “mixed Indigenous-settler” to “settler,” and told Postmedia she is “continuing to learn.”

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Kim Senklip Harvey, a Vancouver theatre and TV director and member of the Syilx and Tsilhqot’in Nations, said it’s not enough to make statements about learning. “There needs to be a level of restitution here. There has to be a returning of goods, and space and power.”

Ginger Gosnell-Myers, of the Nisga’a and Kwakwak’awakw Nations and SFU fellow in urban Indigenous policy and planning, said she was disappointed to hear of yet another pretendian.

“A pretendian is someone who believes that they have Indigenous ancestry or identifies as an Indigenous person, but doesn’t actually know for sure if they have any Indigenous connections through family, lineage or Indigenous community,” said Gosnell-Myers.

In recent years, prominent authors such as Josph Boyden and Gwen Benaway, and more recently former UBC professor Amie Wolf, have been at the centre of “pretendian” allegations.

In December, CBC News revealed the Indigenous identity claims of Michelle Latimer, director of the Trickster series, were under scrutiny. Latimer, who had built a long career trading on an Indigenous identity, resigned and apologized after members of the Kitigan Zibi community said she was not a member.

In the aftermath, the series was cancelled, robbing other Indigenous cast and crew members of further opportunities.

Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, a Vancouver-based actor of Blackfoot and Sámi heritage, is calling for institutional and systemic change to prevent further “ethnic fraud.” Following the Latimer controvesy, the Indigenous Screen Office announced it is developing a more rigorous process for vetting Indigenous identities.

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“The repercussions are felt long after these individuals are exposed and I, like many others, am tired of having to consistently engage with this often painful issue,” said Tailfeathers.

Daniel Heath Justice, a UBC professor and member of the Cherokee Nation, said the issue is complicated and heartbreaking, in part because many Indigenous people are separated from their communities and identities.

“We have a lot of relatives that are disconnected for really good reasons, and really painful reasons, and their stories are subject to a lot of skepticism — people who were part of the Sixties scoop or people whose families left because of abuse, all kinds of reasons,” he said. “Their journey back is made that much harder when people make claims like this.

“No one wants to act as the identity police, but just because there is a family story doesn’t make it real.”

Justice said there are ways to verify relationship to the Indigenous community. “We have enrolment, citizenship, family connections, kinship, community memory,” he said.

Gosnell-Myers said “organizations who might be hiring for Indigenous people or providing grants need to build in additional decision-making rooted with community support to ensure that the right people are hired or win the awards. It’s relatively simple when you have experienced Indigenous people in the room.”

SFU said in a statement to Postmedia that Turions is still employed by the university, and “was hired based on her experience in the art community, not her ancestry,” and that the grants in question were received before her employment at the university.

dryan@postmedia.com

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