Dr. Carrie Bourassa, who claims to be from the Métis people, rose from poverty to become one of Canada’s strongest voices for the role of government in Indigenous health. However, after researchers found out her heritage is white, Bourassa has been “ousted” as the scientific director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Indigenous People’s Health.
The New York Post reported that Dr. Bourassa’s heritage came to light during a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) investigation, revealing that Bourassa’s family is from the old Eastern Bloc, also known as the communist/socialist bloc.
From the NY Post:
“Far from being a member of the Métis nation, as she had long claimed, a laborious trace of Bourassa’s family tree revealed that her supposedly indigenous ancestors were, in fact, immigrant farmers who hailed from Russia, Poland, and Czechoslovakia.”
In the documentary from the CBC, Dr. Bourassa’s TEDx talk reportedly caused a stir with her colleagues. Associate Professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Saskatchewan, Winona Wheeler, told CDC that watching Dr. Bourassa try so hard on stage to prove her heritage made her uncomfortable as she knew Dr. Bourassa was lying.
“When I saw that TEDx, to be quite honest, I was repulsed by how hard she was working to pass herself off as Indigenous,” Wheeler, a member of Manitoba’s Fisher River Cree Nation, told CBC.
Feeling indignant, Wheeler continued saying, “You’ve got no right to tell people that’s who you are to gain legitimacy, to get positions, and to get funding. That’s abuse.”
A member of the Métis people, family medicine professor Janet Smylie said finding out the truth about Bourassa made her “sick.”
“To have an imposter who is speaking on behalf of Métis and Indigenous people to the country about literally what it means to be Métis … that’s very disturbing and upsetting and harmful,” Smylie told CBC.
Dr. Bourassa declined to participate in the CBC documentary but emailed the broadcasters claiming that while she doesn’t have Métis in her blood, she was “adopted” by a Métis member named Clifford Laroque, in her 20s.
“Even though Clifford passed, those bonds are even deeper than death because the family has taken me as if I was their blood family. In turn, I serve the Métis community to the best of my ability,” said Bourassa.
- Ukraine Slams Biden Admin’s Hysterics; Says Americans Are Safer In Kyiv Than LA - January 24, 2022
- Virginia Attorney General Files Motion To Dismiss Case Against Youngkin’s Anti-Mandate EO - January 21, 2022
- Are M&M’s Woke? Exec Says The Company Is Making The Candy Characters More ‘Inclusive’ - January 21, 2022
