A leaked internal blog from Indigenous Services Canada has revealed an awkward conundrum: In “systemically racist” Canada, non-Indigenous job applicants are self-identifying as Indigenous to gain benefits.

The leak was sent to state-broadcaster CBC, containing a blog written by Gina Wilson, the top bureaucrat at Indigenous Services Canada. 

In it, Wilson emphasized the need to “honestly tell your truth” in self-identification, addressing what she called a “contentious issue.”

Wilson’s blog, circulated internally on June 13, followed calls from First Nations, Inuit, and Métis leaders for government action against Indigenous identity theft.

“This is a challenge that can be addressed, in part, by raising awareness and encouraging those who might falsely claim to be Indigenous to find their own authentic identity,” she wrote.

Wilson’s blog further suggested that self-identification fraud will continue under current legislative frameworks like the Employment Equity Act, which currently supports it.

Hiring quotas 

Canada’s top employers, including the bloated federal public service, regularly post equity-based agendas in job postings, sometimes explicitly calling for Indigenous or non-White job applicants. 

For example, the University of Waterloo recently made two job postings for Canada Research Chairs in computer science. One posting only let people who identify as “women, transgender, gender-fluid, non-binary, or Two-spirit” apply. In the second posting, it only let people who are “of a racialized minority” apply.

Last year, Memorial University of Newfoundland booted their president and vice-chancellor, Vianne Timmons, over controversial claims she made regarding her Indigenous ancestry.

Later, an “equity task force” paid by the government put out a call for some sort of verification process to combat the highly-subjective ‘self-identify’ option that employers currently give.