Indigenous icon Buffy Sainte-Marie’s identity was brought into question by a CBC investigation, her Piapot family says the accusations are “ignorant, colonial – and racist.”
Indigenous icon Buffy Sainte-Marie’s identity was brought into question by a CBC investigation, her Piapot family says the accusations are “ignorant, colonial – and racist.”
Why does there need to be a single Canada-wide definition? We’re not talking about “who gets a government-issued status card” here—people can be unambiguously Indigenous and still not have one of those. We’re talking about who can stand up in a public venue and say “I’m Indigenous” without causing a scandal, and who gets to decide that.
What’s to stop someone from doing that
The fact that no single individual can control the “scandal” part.
I mean, what’s to stop anyone from claiming ancestry
How can people in Iqaluit monitor those claiming their status in Ontario?
It’s unfair and unreasonable to leave it up to the tribes
They don’t have to monitor it. They only have to respond to inquiries about people’s tribal membership, not proactively anticipate them.
Why is there an inquiry in that scenario?
Okay, now you’re just being silly. My cat could figure that one out, especially with an example right in front of him.
You are being ridiculous if you think most scenarios of people claiming to belong to a tribe far enough away that they aren’t going to run into a member is going to result in an inquiry
The point is that the claim doesn’t matter unless someone cares enough about it to make an inquiry (that is, cares just a tiny amount), or it affects legal matters like status cards (in which case, someone will care enough to enquire). If there’s no harm being done, then no enforcement needs to be done either. Which is also so very basic that my cat could figure it out.