Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond | |
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| Born | February 1963
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada or Norway House Cree Nation, Canada (disputed)
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| Alma mater | Carleton University |
| Occupation(s) | Activist, lawyer, former judge, former academic |
Mary Ellen Elizabeth Turpel-Lafond (born February 1963) is a Canadian lawyer, former judge, and legislative advocate for children's rights.
She was appointed in 2006 as British Columbia's first Representative for Children and Youth, an independent position reporting to the Legislative Assembly. She was re-appointed to a second five-year term in 2011. Turpel-Lafond has stated she was the first Treaty Indian to be appointed to the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan as she said her father was Cree. This claim to be a Treaty Indian has been disputed, however. Time Magazine has twice bestowed honours upon Turpel-Lafond, naming her as one of the "100 Global Leaders of Tomorrow" in 1994, and in 1999 as one of the "Top 20 Canadian Leaders for the 21st Century". She was invested into the Order of Canada, and was until 2022 celebrated as among the most accomplished First Nations scholars in the history of Canada.
After an October 2022 CBC News investigation found major discrepancies in biographical statements made by Turpel-Lafond about Indigenous ancestry, educational credentials, and legal accomplishments, her career came under heightened public scrutiny.
Early life and education
Place of birth
Turpel-Lafond's place of birth is disputed. According to Turpel-Lafond, she was born and raised on the First Nation reserve of the Norway House Cree Nation, in Manitoba. However a report by CBC News published in 2022, asserts that Turpel-Lafond was more likely born and raised in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The CBC's report is based on voter records for Turpel-Lafond's parents; a yearbook for a Niagara Falls high school including Turpel-Lafond; the 1996 edition of Who's Who in Canada listing her place of birth as Niagara Falls; and her ex-husband's statement that he understood her to have been born and raised in Niagara Falls.
Ancestry
Turpel-Lafond's ancestry and ethnicity are disputed. According to Turpel-Lafond she is "of Cree, Scottish and English heritage" (Cree via her father, and Scottish and English via her mother). She has stated that her father, William Turpel, "was Cree, spoke Cree and lived the values of a Cree person." Turpel-Lafond asserts that her father was adopted by a British couple as a child, William Nicholson Turpel and Eleanor Rhoda Turpel, but the adoption was done informally leaving no documentary records or evidence.
In contrast, a CBC report from 2022 asserts that a birth certificate, baptismal record, and newspaper birth announcement all show that Turpel-Lafond's father, William, was actually the biological child of Canadian-British couple William Nicholson Turpel and Eleanor Rhoda Turpel. A cousin and an aunt of Turpel-Lafond have both told reporters that they had never known William Turpel to have either been adopted or have been of Cree ancestry. Joe Keeper, a Cree man born at Norway House at around the same time William Turpel was born, has told media that neither he nor anyone he knows had heard that William Turpel was Cree and he doubts the accuracy of such a claim.
Education
Turpel-Lafond first degree was a bachelor of arts degree from Carleton University in 1982, She then graduated with a law degree from Osgoode Hall in 1985, She was awarded a doctorate of law from Harvard Law School in 1997.
Turpel-Lafond received a diploma in international law from the University of Cambridge in 1989. However in her 2018 curriculum vitae, she stated that had received a Master of Laws (LLM) from Cambridge. When asked by reporters, the University of Cambridge confirmed that the diploma is a substantially different credential from the LL.M. degree.
Hononary degrees
During her career, Turpel-Lafond was awarded eleven hononary degrees from a variety of Canadian universities. However, following the issues in relation to her ancestry claims, during 2023 all of the degrees were either rescinded by the relevant university or voluntarily reliquinshed by Turpel-Lafond.
| University | Year Awarded | Status |
|---|---|---|
| University of Regina | 2003 | Rescinded |
| Mount Saint Vincent University | 2005 | Rescinded |
| Thompson Rivers University | 2009 | Voluntarily relinquished |
| Brock University | 2010 | Voluntarily relinquished |
| Vancouver Island University | 2013 | Voluntarily relinquished |
| York University | 2013 | Voluntarily relinquished |
| McGill University | 2014 | Rescinded |
| Royal Roads University | 2016 | Voluntarily relinquished |
| Simon Fraser University | 2016 | Voluntarily relinquished |
| St.Thomas University | 2017 | Voluntarily relinquished |
| Carleton University | 2019 | Rescinded |
According to publicly available CV, Turpel-Lafond has asserted that she had received an honorary doctorate from First Nations University of Canada in 2001. However, CBC has reported that First Nations University of Canada has never granted an honorary degree in the history of the institution and "any mention of receiving an honorary degree or award from FNUniv is erroneous".
Other awards
On March 9, 2023, the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association announced that it had stripped Turpel-Lafond of the Reg Robson Award it had previously given her in 2020. The BCCLA stated that information had come to their board's attention "that demonstrates, in our view, that Dr. Turpel-Lafond falsified her claims to Cree ancestry", and that she had made other academic and professional claims "all of which, in our view, erode her professional integrity". In response, Turpel-Lafond stated commented that she was surprised that the BCCLA had stripped her of the award without an opportunity to make any comments.
Career
Until recently, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond was celebrated as among the most accomplished First Nations scholars in the history of Canada.
Based on Turpel-Lafond's statement that she was a member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, Turpel-Lafond was thought to be the first Treaty Indian to be appointed a judge in Saskatchewan in 1998. She was the administrative judge for Saskatoon, involved in the administration of the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan in relation to access to justice, judicial independence projects, technology and public outreach.
As a criminal law judge in youth and adult courts, Turpel-Lafond worked at developing partnerships to better serve the needs of young people in the justice system, particularly sexually exploited children and youth, and children and youth with disabilities, such as fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
Prior to her judicial appointment, Turpel-Lafond was a lawyer in Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan. She was an assistant professor of law at Dalhousie University Faculty of Law from 1989 to 1996. She occasionally spoke at other universities, and held the position of Aboriginal Scholar at the University of Saskatchewan. She has been a visiting professor at the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria law schools.
In November 2006, Turpel-Lafond was appointed to a five-year term as British Columbia's first Representative for Children and Youth. Her responsibilities included advocating for children and youth, protecting their rights, and improving the system for their protection and support, particularly those who are most vulnerable. Turpel-Lafond was appointed to a second term in late 2011. In 2015, she called for the government to hire immediately at least 250 social workers for indigenous children, in order to provide needed services and protect vulnerable children.
As a practising lawyer, Turpel-Lafond has appeared before all levels of courts in Canada, including the Supreme Court of Canada. Turpel-Lafond has worked on land claims with the Indian Law Resource Center in Washington, D.C., and served as a key legal and constitutional adviser to aboriginal leaders. Around 2017 she was being mooted as a potential first Indigenous appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada.
According to Turpel-Lafond, she co-authored a book with University of British Columbia professor Grant Charles in 2017 titled Indigenous Customary Adoption and Reconciliation. Charles says he has no recollection of writing such a book, and no copies of the volume have ever been discovered.
During a speech at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences event held in 2013, Turpel-Lafond said that during her career she had received the designation of Queen's Counsel (Q.C.) by the Government of Saskatchewan. However both the Ministry of Justice of Saskatchewan and the Law Society of Saskatchewan report there is no record of Turpel-Lafond being appointed Queen's Counsel.
In 2017, Turpel-Lafond filed a lawsuit against the Province of British Columbia which claimed that the government broke a verbal agreement to provide her with 18 months worth of pension credits for each year of service. The statement of claim said the province had a history of animosity with Turpel-Lafond. It says a deputy minister told her in 2015 that "the government would treat her as a 'member of the opposition.'"
University of British Columbia
In 2018, Turpel-Lafond joined the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia (UBC) as professor and was subsequently named the inaugural director of the University of British Columbia's Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre. She resigned as director in June 2022, while continuing as a professor at the university.
On January 3, 2023 it was reported that Turpel-Lafond was as of December 16, 2022 no longer employed by the University of British Columbia. Turpel-Lafond's departure from UBC was marked by controversy, with her stating that she "retired" from her position, a statement which UBC declined to confirm. The Globe and Mail states that Turpel-Lafond was removed from her position at the Peter A. Allard School of Law "because of the compelling evidence that she isn't who she says she is."
Order of Canada
Turpel-Lafond resigned from her Order of Canada appointment, effective September 26, 2023, after a CBC investigation of her claims to Indigenous ancestry.
Reactions to ancestry issue
In 2022, after allegations emerged that Turpel-Lafond had falsely claimed Indigenous ancestry, UBC affirmed its support for her with a university spokesperson saying Indigenous ancestry was not a prerequisite for her employment and that Turpel-Lafond's "identity is her own and the university is not going to comment on it". Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, said he supported Turpel-Lafond and denounced accusations against her as a "disgusting witch hunt", and as "Garbage. Yellow journalism. Tabloid crap. Misogynistic!!". Some Indigenous groups and individuals also offered support to Turpel-Lafond.
The Indigenous Women's Collective, which includes Lillian Dyck, the first woman of First Nations ancestry to serve in Canada's Senate, criticized the university's response saying that "university leaders have been too swift to publicly defend an individual claiming to hold Treaty Indian status and Indigeneity, when in fact there is no verifiable evidence to support that claim". The Collective has also called on universities which have granted honorary degrees to Turpel-Lafond to consider revoking them. Some universities have indicated that they are reviewing the issue.
Aly Bear, vice chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, initially joined a statement of support for Turpel-Lafond. She subsequently retracted her support, explaining that her statement was issued "prematurely" and that she found Turpel-Lafond's claims of Cree ancestry "extremely offensive".
Cindy Blackstock, professor of social work at McGill University, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, and member of the Gitxsan First Nation, has stated that she had reserved judgment on the issue until further evidence came out. She has concluded that the birth certificate for Turpel-Lafond's father "... was pretty clear and convincing evidence suggesting that in this case there is no Indigenous identity per se".
Turpel-Lafond was a member of the Law Society of British Columbia, having been admitted to the BC Bar since 2018. She was a partner at Lafond & Mack Law Group LLP but the firm was dissolved on October 19, 2022, a week after the allegations surfaced on CBC.
Personal life
Turpel-Lafond lives in North Saanich, British Columbia, with her second husband George Lafond, who is a former vice-chief and tribal chief of the Saskatoon Tribal Council. They have a son and three daughters, including one set of twins.