Darryl R. J. Leroux

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Many genealogy forums recently claimed their distant ancestor, the French-born Catherine Pillard was Indigenous. Pillard arrived with other women in Quebec in the 17th century as depicted in this painting. Charles William Jefferys / Library and Archives Canada

How some North Americans claim a false Indigenous identity

Darryl R. J. Leroux, Saint Mary’s University

Recently in Canada and the United States, a small, but vocal minority of white French-descendants have used an ancestor born between 300 and 400 years ago to claim an “Indigenous” identity.
Métis Family and a Red River Cart, 1883. (State Historical Society of North Dakota, A4365)

Becoming Indigenous: The rise of Eastern Métis in Canada

Darryl R. J. Leroux, Saint Mary’s University and Adam Gaudry, University of Alberta

New census data sheds light on the country’s Indigenous population. In Eastern Canada, the rise in people claiming to be “Métis” is a controversial case of “settler self-indigenization.”

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