Former cabinet minister Randy Boissonnault tells committee: ‘I am not Indigenous’ [Video]

Randy Boissonnault, whose shifting claims to Indigenous identity cost him his job as employment minister, told a House of Commons committee today that he is not Indigenous.

Boissonnault was called to testify at the Indigenous and northern affairs committee after a series of media reports, led by the National Post, raised doubts about his past claims related to his heritage.

The Edmonton MP has been described as Indigenous multiple times in communications from the Liberal Party, has referred to himself as “non-status adopted Cree” and has said his great-grandmother was a “full-blooded Cree woman.”

He has since clarified that his adoptive mother and brother are Metis, and he apologized for his shifting claims.

At the committee this morning, Boissonnault said he came up with the term “non-status adopted Cree” after a conversation with an Indigenous researcher and that he was trying to convey his family’s heritage.

NDP MP Lori Idlout, …