Some Indigenous leaders are now backing calls for Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault to resign over conflicting claims about his family’s background.
Boissonnault has been under scrutiny for months over claims made about his family’s Indigenous heritage and allegations that his former company Global Health Imports (GHI) claimed to be “Indigenous-owned” when bidding for federal contracts in 2020.
He has denied having any involvement in the business since he was re-elected in 2021 and has claimed that his former business partner Stephen Anderson — chief operating officer of GHI — was working without his consent to “advance his personal interests.”
Joanna Bernard, Assembly of First Nations regional chief for New Brunswick, told CBC’s Power & Politics on Tuesday that she thinks Boissonnault should resign in light of the conflicting statements about his family’s heritage.
“If somebody is doing something on his behalf, he should have been aware,” Bernard said. “I think ignorance is not an excuse and he should resign.”
She added that the government’s apparent inability to verify Métis status contributes to flaws in the Indigenous business procurement system.
“The prime minister himself could identify as Métis,” she said. “We need accountability and transparency on these contracts to ensure that whoever is getting them are truly Métis and truly First Nations.”
Conservative MPs are calling on Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault to quit cabinet over claims that he misrepresented his Indigenous background and his business dealings, Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Joanna Bernard tells Power & Politics ‘ignorance is not an excuse and [Boissonnault] should resign.’
Boissonault has described his great-grandmother several times as a Cree woman. Census records suggest that she was Métis.
That story was first reported by the National Post.
On Nov. 8, Boissonnault said in a media statement that his “adopted mother and brother” are status Métis.
The Edmonton MP has never claimed to be Indigenous. However, others — including the Liberal Party — have claimed Indigenous identity on his behalf.
Alice Hansen, a spokesperson for Boissonnault, said in a media statement on Tuesday that the employment minister “spoke to what he believed to be accurate his whole life.”
“As recent reporting has come to light, it appears that the minister’s own understanding of his family’s heritage was inaccurate,” Hansen said. “This information has come as a surprise to the minister, and he has apologized for not being as clear as he could have been.”
Edmonton Centre MP Blake Desjarlais, a New Democrat of Cree and Métis descent, told reporters on Tuesday that Boissonnault “must resign as minister” because he is making decisions related to Indigenous people’s lives while he is uncertain of his own connections.
Desjarlais’s statement marks the first time a member of the NDP has asked for Boissonnault to step down.
An NDP MP says Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault must resign from cabinet over questions about his past business dealings and claims of Indigenous heritage. Blake Desjarlais told reporters ‘pretendianism’ hurts Indigenous business owners and that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is not taking those concerns seriously by allowing Boissonnault to remain in cabinet.
“If he does not resign, it’s incumbent on the prime minister to kick someone like that out,” Desjarlais said.
Conservative MP Andrew Scheer read into the record during question period a social media post by former federal justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould — a descendent of the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk and a member of the We Wai Kai Nation in B.C.
During question period on Tuesday, Andrew Scheer, House leader for the Official Opposition, called on Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault to resign following a news report that said his former medical supply company shared a mailbox with a woman who was held in a drug bust. Boissonnault said that he did not know the person named in the article.
On Tuesday, Wilson-Raybould said that claims of Boissonnault’s Indigeneity are “shameful and extremely destructive.”
“A Prime Minister committed to true reconciliation would have removed Randy (and the other Randy) from Cabinet long ago,” she wrote on X. “Instead we get to watch white people play ancestry wheel of fortune.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expelled Wilson-Raybould and Dr. Jane Philpott from the Liberal caucus in 2019 in the midst of the SNC-Lavalin affair, after saying the trust between them and the Liberals had been “broken.”
Earlier on Tuesday, at the G20 summit in Brazil, Trudeau said he is “happy that [Boissonnault] is continuing to lead on issues around jobs and employment and represent Alberta in our government.”
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet also told CBC News on Tuesday he does not believe the Edmonton MP should resign over the issue.
After question period on Tuesday, Speaker Greg Fergus asked Conservative MPs Michelle Rempel Garner, Michael Barrett and Rick Perkins to withdraw from the House for the remainder of the sitting day because they refused to withdraw remarks that broke the rules of order and decorum.
House Speaker Greg Fergus asked Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner to withdraw the word “fraud” from her opening statements made in relation to Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault. Rempel Garner said she was quoting a Cree lawyer and did not withdraw. Fergus then asked her to leave the House and withdraw from any other House proceedings on Tuesday. Rempel Garner was one of three Conservative MPs removed from the House on Tuesday.
Rempel Garner had referred to Boissonnault as a “fraud” but said she was quoting a Cree lawyer cited in a National Post article.
Barrett mentioned “cocaine Randy” — a reference to the minister’s former company sharing a mailbox with a woman who was detained in a drug bust.
Perkins was named and ejected for not fully withdrawing his statement about a “corrupt” member. The office of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Perkins was describing Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.