NDP MP calls on Boissonnault to resign over false claims to Indigenous identity
By Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press on November 19, 2024.
Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages Minister Randy Boissonnault speaks at a press conference in Ottawa on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. A Métis NDP MP is calling on the employment minister to resign over what he calls harmful false claims to Indigenous ancestry. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean KilpatrickOTTAWA – A Métis member of Parliament is calling on the employment minister to resign over what he calls harmful false claims to Indigenous ancestry.
Randy Boissonnault, who had said his great-grandmother was a “full-blooded Cree woman,” has also been described as Indigenous multiple times in communications from the Liberal party.
He has walked back those comments after it was revealed that a company he co-owned applied for government contracts while claiming to be Indigenous owned.
NDP MP Blake Desjarlais, who is Métis, says Indigenous people have been victimized by what has happened, and that people in Boissonnault’s Edmonton Centre riding are “embarrassed” by what is going on.
Desjarlais says Boissonnault should resign and if he doesn’t, the prime minister should remove him from cabinet.
Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu did not say whether she believes Boissonnault should remain in cabinet when asked repeatedly today.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 19, 2024.
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