January 2021

As a criminal lawyer, one of things that I do in my efforts to defend my clients is to find out about them. I use the information about their circumstances to try to provide context to the alleged offence, help the Crown to understand the way in which a criminal conviction may adversely impact my client, and to persuade the Crown that seeking a conviction is not in the public interest.

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“What happens when someone overtly steals something from you, like your lands, your culture or the identity that’s yours?” asked Tamara Bell on Monday.

The Haida filmmaker launched a campaign on Jan. 18 for Canada to create legislation to stop a longstanding trend: People fraudulently claiming Indigenous identity to gain funding or opportunities.

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Kyla Lee, a Métis defence lawyer practicing in Vancouver, told Windspeaker.com that despite a few potential legal red flags with the legislation as proposed, it’s high time for consequences to prevent a rampant and historic problem.

“This is something that’s perhaps long overdue,” Lee said in an interview. “People take advantage of the fact that in Canada we have Indigenous communities that include people who are white-passing, myself as a good example of that.

“There does need to be a way this type of behaviour can be controlled and addressed in more than just the use of ‘cancel culture.’”

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