Don’t miss reading the complimentary piece below by Michelle Stirling, exposing both Pretendianism (people falsely claiming indigenous heritage) and what she calls Part-endians – people who are white and have an indigenous partner or one such parent, or vice versa (who seem hell-bent on destroying Canada. (Also see her thoughts on Part-endians here.)

“Cocaine Randy” and “Criminal Court Kimberly”

Pretendians and Part-endians Cashing in and Crushing Canada

Michelle Stirling

Sorry No More - Exposing the Bitter Roots of 'Sugarcane'

November 28, 2024

Canada seems to be awash in both Pretendians (people who falsely claim Indigenous heritage) and what I call Part-endians – people who are White and have an Indigenous partner or one such parent, or vice versa (who seem hell-bent on destroying Canada. See my thoughts on Part-endians here.)

Why should you care if someone wants to identify as this or that? Because. Your wallet is being raided. Often by Pretendian or Part-endian people who are not truly entitled to the affirmative action programs. Burdensome policies, departments, and incentive programs are being established to serve special Indigenous niche interests, and some of these are being used to irreparably harm the integrity of Canada as a nation. According to a recent Fraser Institute report, “The annual Indigenous budget has almost tripled from 2015 to 2025, growing (in nominal dollars) from roughly $11 billion to more than $32 billion.”

There are ~1.8 million Indigenous people in Canada or about 5% of the population (2021).

Recently, Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault was forced to resign from cabinet over a number of issues. The moniker “Cocaine Randy” was coined in the House of Commons in reference to allegations that his partner’s business dealings may have been associated with a large cocaine bust. But what seems to have really caused his resignation were issues regarding his identity issues. The first issue is that he appears to have falsely or misleadingly claimed Indigenous heritage – aka as ‘a Pretendian’ – an identity charade for which Buffy Ste. Marie was recently taken to task by CBC’s Fifth Estate. This identity charade reportedly led to an issue related to preferential treatment in commercial contracts of a company he co-founded, thus claimed to be ‘Indigenous owned.” The National Post of Nov. 19, 2024, reviewed historic public records and could not find evidence to support Mr. Boissonault’s claims of Indigenous heritage, even by association. (Mr. Boissonault says he did not make such an application and blames a business colleague for the application and for stating the firm was ‘Indigenous owned.’)

The CBC reported on Nov. 20, 2024, the outrage this has sparked in some Indigenous circles:

NDP MP Blake Desjarlais, who is himself Métis from Alberta, welcomed Boissonnault's resignation Wednesday.

He accused Boissonnault of "race-shifting" and being a "Pretendian" — a term associated with people who falsely claim to be Indigenous.

"This is a clear signal to Pretendians across the country. If you pretend to be Indigenous for purpose of accessing Indigenous benefits, funding or prestige, you will be found out. We will find you," Desjarlais told reporters.

The issue is that special programs meant for Indigenous people are being scooped by those who are either not Indigenous at all, or whose genetic heritage to Indigeneity is tenuous at best.

In that same CBC report, Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak is quoted as saying:

"Misrepresentation harms the integrity of Indigenous identity and is disrespectful to the experiences of First Nations people who face systemic barriers tied to their identities. It also undermines the progress we have worked so hard to achieve," she said.

In the Ottawa Citizen, author Ed Whitcomb wrote of the Liberal government’s laggard manner of handling the Randy case, “One is the fact that some white Canadians claim Indigenous ancestry to advance their personal interests. …If they do not stand up for the integrity of Indigenous identity, who will?”

While the taking of positions meant for Indigenous people by Pretendians prevents the affirmative purpose of Indigenous contracts or positions, what does it mean for the broader Canadian community when a possible Pretendian takes up a cause, but they likely don’t have the bona fides claimed?

I am speaking of Kimberly Murray, the former Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves Related to Indian Residential Schools.

Ms. Murray’s influence on Canada cannot be measured. She was the Executive Director of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; she filed an affidavit on behalf of the “Mohawk Mothers” regarding claims of alleged nefarious burials at McGill which outlines her duties for the TRC in astonishing detail. She subsequently spent the last 2 ½ years as the Special Interlocutor and recently released her final report, in which she accuses Canada of continuing a genocide and being in violation of a myriad of human rights against Indigenous people.

Ms. Murray wants Canada to refer itself to the International Criminal Court. The ~1,000-page document makes the repetitive claim, contrary to historical evidence, that Canada is ‘continuing a genocide’ and that all Indian Residential School matters are fraught with crimes against humanity. Murray was contracted for some >$200,000/yr to report to the Minister of Justice in her position as a civil servant. Her reports have not been vetted by a broader panel of historians in Canada, who, like me, would reject her outrageous accusations. To wit, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) found that Indian Residential Schools had constituted a form of culture genocide. Murray rewrites this fact to claim that: “The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) provides indisputable historical evidence of genocide, crimes against humanity, and mass human rights violations in the Indian Residential School System.”

Murray’s report also states: “Survivors attest to the bodies of babies being placed in incinerators at Indian Residential Schools.” This is the claim purveyed in the recent documentary “Sugarcane,” which I debunk in my mini-documentary “The Bitter Roots of ‘Sugarcane.’” Murray’s choice of words “attest” raises questions as there has not been, to my knowledge, any legal proceedings where actual cross-examination or evidence supporting such claims has been presented. As criminal defence lawyer, Nicholas Wansbutter, pointed out in this episode of “Don’t Talk TV,” eye-witness claims are not evidence. They have high credibility with the public because of their emotional value, but in legal terms, statements must be subject to cross-examination and supporting evidence.

The release of Kimberly Murray’s report, without further analysis and vetting by experienced historians may create significant geopolitical troubles for Canada, as China has accused Canada of genocide at the UN. As proof, they cited the Kamloops First Nation’s claim of 2021 that human remains of 215 children were found in a mass grave in the orchard near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Kamloops First Nation has recently said the discoveries were ‘anomalies.’

Recall that Kimberly Murray is an enthusiastic supporter of NDP MP Leah Gazan’s private member’s Bill C-413 to criminalize the questions I am asking in this article and other aspects of my work. Ms. Gazan herself benefitted historically from the NWMP/RCMP and Indian Residential Schools that she now denounces. How strange. What is going on?

NDP MP Leah Gazan and Kimberly Murray.

Leah Gazan claims in this video at 16:31, “This is about the truth.”

I ask, “Is it?”

Ms. Murray’s online government bio says: “Kimberly Murray is a member of the Kahnesatake Mohawk Nation.” In interviews, she says that her grandfather told her “You are an Indian. Don't ever forget it.”

From Inside York U; The Magazine of York University, February 2011:

Kimberly Murray didn't grow up on the reserve. Blond and blue-eyed, the daughter of an Irish immigrant and a Kanesatake Mohawk, she spent her childhood in a Montreal suburb. In winter, she skied in Quebec, in summer, she spent time in California, where her hotel-accountant father had sought a new life after divorce. If her grandfather from Oka hadn't drummed into her, "You are an Indian. Don't ever forget it," she might have ended up like her younger brother - uninformed about her native heritage. . . .

Since high school, Murray has had an abiding interest in law and political science. In university, she began to actively identify as a First Nations person. She started law school in 1990 following the 78-day Oka standoff between Mohawks and security forces in Quebec. "I got in many fights over it. People didn't know I was a member of the band. It really fired me up." In third year, she participated in Osgoode's Intensive Program at Parkdale Community Legal Services clinic and found her calling - social justice and community advocacy. After she was called to the bar, she marched into ALST.

Perhaps like Randy Boissonault she took family folklore at face-value as fact.

A search of public records reveals no Mohawk heritage for Kimberly Murray. Her parents were French and Irish. She has publicly claimed her Irish mother was a ‘settler’ who came here as a pre-teen.

“I grew up in, just on the outskirts of Montreal, in different suburbs of Montreal. And my father is Mohawk, and my mother is a settler from Belfast, Ireland. She came over to Canada when she was a young teenager, or a young girl, actually, I think she wasn't a teenager yet when she came over.”

Regarding her father and grandparents, there is no identification of Indigenous heritage in the marriage records.

The 1940 marriage record says Joseph Rene Ovilda Murray, 'hotel man of Saint Patricks', was the son of Alfred Murray and Diana Major. The 1911 census shows Alfred and Diana Murray in Montreal.

The fifth of October, one thousand nine hundred and forty, after the dispensation from the publication of those banns of marriage and from the impediment of mixed religion and ad cautelam disparitatis cultus had been granted by the Ordinary of the Archdiocese, there being no other impediment or opposition, we, the undersigned priest, vicar of this parish, having asked and received the mutual consent of Joseph Rene Ovilda Murray, hotel man of Saint Patricks, son of age of the late Alfred Murray and the late Diana Roger of the one part and Ruby Elizabeth McWhirter, a non Catholic of Montreal, daughter of age of Gordon McWhirter and Ella Pollack of the other part, have married them according to the laws and rites of the Holy Catholic Church in presence of Alpha Major step-father of the bridegroom and Bernard Murphy, both undersigned with the bridegroom and the bride. The parties have declared that they did not sign a marriage contract. The act was read

[signatures of

Rene Murray

Ruby McWhirter

Alpha Major

Bernard Murphy]

Karen Brazeau has an Ancestry page which says Basile Murray of Oka was the father of Alfred Sam Murray, who Brazeau says was the father of Rene Murray, which we know from Rene Murray's baptism record is Kimberly Murray's grandfather. But to date, no one can find a record of an Alfred Sam Murray. The baptism record merely gives the name of Rene Murray's father as Alfred Murray, a baker living in Montreal. Moreover the 1901 census (see attachment) shows Basile Murray, 70 years old, and his adult children at Oka, none of them named Alfred.

Kimberly Murray has noted in the interview with York U, she did not grow up on reserve. She spent her winters skiing in the Laurentians and her summers in California, after her father moved there following her parents divorce when she was about ten.

Most Indigenous kids, youth and adults I knew when I was a career counsellor for Alberta Human Resources some 20 years ago had never skied. Some had rarely left the reserve except for shopping trips to local towns. Many told me they felt uncomfortable when they moved to a ‘white’ town for work, because it was so unfamiliar to them. None were flying to California for the summer.

Whether Kimberly Murray is actually Indigenous or not is very significant.

She claims to represent the issues of Indigenous people in Canada, but at the McGill excavation demanded by the Mohawk Mothers, for which her affidavit was central to convincing the judge to allow the case to proceed, no unmarked graves or bodies of missing children were found.

In fact, it appears that the so-called Mohawk Mothers are not a legal entity and did not have standing to take McGill to court, but for the intervention of Kimberly Murray. She impressed upon the judge that there was a significant matter of law at hand, potentially a criminal matter.

In terms of Kimberly Murray’s appointment to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and her long list of duties and activities as recounted in her affidavit filed on behalf of the Mohawk Mothers, it sounds a bit like “The Kimberly Murray Show.” By her own account, it appears that she directed most of the activities and particularly focused the TRC on allegations of missing children, and perhaps with an agenda grounded in the belief that there were, like the Mohawk Mothers believed, dozens of children in unmarked graves.

The evidence does not support this thesis. No such graves have been found at McGill, despite numerous stop work orders on excavation there and archeological digs.

Did Kimberly Murray and others advance this belief about dead children at Indian Residential Schools in a prejudicial manner? As the daughter of a claimed “Irish settler”, did she mistakenly believe the distorted news reports out of Ireland about a home for unwed mothers and the babies buried on site…and then assume this applies to all Catholic residential facilities? Or has she been subject to undue influence of other kinds?

Who, for instance, wrote the text of the kiosk that greeted people coming to TRC events to share their recollections? Did the shocking opening statement, deter people from speaking up about good experiences they had at Indian Residential Schools; did it convince people who knew of class mates who had ‘disappeared’ for TB or other medical treatment, that something more nefarious had happened to them?

But Kimberly Murray’s mission was advanced to an even higher authority in Canada, when she was appointed as Special Interlocutor.

She was appointed to be an objective interlocutor, but early on, with the release of her first report “Sacred Responsibilities,” and in interviews, she stated she would not be objective.

Her late partner and father of her two children, Batchewana-raised Gary Corbiere, died unexpectedly in Aug. 2004. No doubt this personal tragedy elicited empathy for the many Indigenous people she heard from who also claimed to have missing relatives. Ambiguous losses are difficult to deal with, to find closure. In many cases, people continue ‘looking’ for their loved one their entire lives, even though they intellectually know the person has died. Emotionally, they ardently believe the person will be found…alive.

In an interview with Indigenous activist Pam Palmater, Kimberly Murray says that the way she looks at everything is: How does this impact Indigenous people?

I suggest we should look at her influence from that perspective today and expand it to include all Canadians. How does the tenuous Indigenous heritage of Kimberly Murray impact Indigenous people and fellow Canadians?

First, even if the Mohawk Nation claim her as a member, somehow that Indigenous adoption didn’t ‘fly’ for Buffy Ste. Marie.

Though Randy Boissonault also claimed to have Indigenous heritage through adoption – that did not ‘fly’ with the public and is not substantiated by public records either.

Unlike Randy, Buffy Ste. Marie’s ‘Pretendian’ career, in my opinion, has been nothing but a positive role model for millions of Indigenous women and young people.

It is a true irony that in a time when Indigenous people were sidelined, Buffy chose to take on that mantle and make a career out of it, and spent a lifetime supporting and promoting Indigenous causes. Perhaps because Buffy reportedly came from a WASPY Italian background she had the necessary social skills and cultural attributes to navigate the predominantly white-European ethnic society of the USA even while dressing up. These would be the very cultural and social skills that teachers were trying to impart to students at Indian Residential Schools, though things like lessons on telephone etiquette are mocked today as evidence of poor educational quality.

Perhaps because people grew up playing ‘cowboys and Indians’ – with many opting to be the warrior Indian – public hearts were won by Buffy’s beautiful long hair, buckskin outfits, beaded earrings, feathers, friendly defiance, and unique vocal stylings.

Corny as it sounds, she was the essence of an Indian princess for many.

Kimberly Murray is a warrior of a different type – one who went to law school with the help of the Mohawk Nation, according to her own statements. Perhaps that should have been revealed in her affidavit on behalf of the Mohawk Mothers as a potential Conflict of Interest, or perhaps a form of pecuniary interest.

It was not reported there.

As a warrior on behalf of children who she believes are missing or have been ‘disappeared’ in enforced circumstances, her reported objectives are large – land back and reparations.

And yet, her connection to Indian Residential School history is tenuous.

Kimberly Murray must have gone to Protestant elementary and secondary schools growing up in what she called the suburbs of Montreal, that is, if she's telling the truth when she says she never saw a priest in a cassock until she was hired by the TRC, as she told Canadian Geographic in an interview on 28 September 2022:

On her own ties to residential school history:

I’m Mohawk and a member of the Kanesatake, the Mohawk community on Lake of Two Mountains outside of Montreal, which is unfortunately mostly known as Oka, and my grandfather was actually taken by the Jesuits. He wasn’t taken to an Indian residential school, he was taken to an orphanage, and had a very similar experience in that regard with abuse. My partner, who’s now deceased, his father is a residential school survivor from Shingwauk Indian Residential School [in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.], and speaks of his experience running away. It’s actually quite a story, but it’s his story to share.

I can remember my first time seeing a church official. I was hired as executive director for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the officials walked into the room wearing the black robes all the way down to the ground, with the big cross in front. And I just had this feeling of shock, fear, a kind of sickness in my stomach. It was coming from what I knew about what happened to my grandfather. But over the five years of working with the TRC, I learned to get beyond the robe and actually have the conversations with the individuals wearing them. But it took me aback. And I can only imagine how survivors feel when they see when they see that.

Clearly, Murray’s lack of understanding of Catholicism and Catholic tradition prejudices her reports. In her “Sites of Truth, Sites of Conscience” she misinterprets the historic images of children engaged in tidying up the graveyard as if some Nazi Holocaust-era crime of making victims dig their own graves before being shot en masse. Cleaning of graves and weeding a cemetery is a Catholic tradition to honor the dead (and in many other faiths).

Likewise, in those early photos in “Sites of Truth…”, we see young Indigenous men bearing a coffin to the graveyard. Murray interprets this as a cruel breach of human rights. In fact, it is an honor and sacred duty to escort the body of a loved one to their final mortal resting place where, for Catholics and other Christian denominations, the body awaits the Resurrection. Certainly, in the earliest days of Canada, it was also a necessity to teach children about burial rites and methods for public health and sanitation. Death rates for all Canadians were very high until about the 1950s, mostly due to Tuberculosis.

Since the Catholic Indigenous parents of these children had expressly enrolled them in a Catholic school, it is unlikely that the parents of the time would have had any objections to their children’s participation in any of these normative religious rituals.

In today’s secular society, Murray’s lack of appreciation of Roman Catholic ritual turns the sacred into the profane, in her view, or a into a criminal act. Her obvious lack of historical context regarding the Forgotten Plague of Tuberculosis (TB) is another significant issue that I have dealt with in other articles.

But back to Kimberly Murray’s ancestry.

Another issue regarding Pretendians might be termed ‘Pretendi-aboriginal.’ On this point, I am referring to the historical claim that the Mohawk are original residents of modern-day Canada. According to retired lawyer, Peter Best, they are not.

“Aboriginal peoples” are people who were already living in what is now Canada at the time of first contact with Europeans. Mohawks were not living in Canada when the French first arrived and settled. Only the Algonquins lived in southern Quebec. The Mohawks lived near present-day Albany, New York. In 1667 they were first invited to move to the St. Lawrence Valley by the government of France and by French Jesuits, in order to, amongst other things, learn more of the Christian religion. They wanted this, accepted the invitation, (giving the lie to “forced assimilation”), and so migrated to New France, and in particular to what is now Kanhawake, Akwesasne and Kanesatake. It is strongly arguable that it’s a myth that Mohawks are Aboriginal peoples of Canada. Judge Bourque acknowledged this history but indicated that it was legally insignificant. It was very significant.”

So, based on Randy and Buffy being rejected by Indigenous and Metis scholars and politicians, how does Kimberly Murray qualify as Indigenous?

And a further question, how can she represent a band that has no traditional roots in Canada yet be filing incendiary reports that are not supported by the evidence, demanding that Canada turn itself in to the International Criminal Court, demanding land back and reparations for crimes that are only alleged by first, second, third person recollections – which any lawyer worth their salt knows are not evidence and are not reliable?

According to a May 21, 2023 report by Radio-Canada, the Kanesatake lands are rife with criminal gangs to the point that people fear for their lives. A 2003 Department of Justice report on Transnational Activities of Chinese Crime Organizations “Canada has become an important site for Chinese narcotics trafficking and financial crimes”…and…”Most of the illegal Chinese migrants who enter Canada move along into the United States, either overland or in container ships. The Akwesasne Mohawk Territory in northern New York, Walpole Island, Ontario at the west end of Lake Erie, and the Niagara frontier region at the east end of Lake Erie have been transit points into the United States from Canada for trafficking migrants and goods. Most of the illegal migrants coming into Canada from China originate in Fujian Province.”

These dots, if connected, are concerning, especially in light of the allegations of foreign interference at other levels of government. Certainly, the recent Kimberly Murray report plays right into the hands of China, which, along with a handful of other dictatorships, has accused Canada of genocide at the UN and called for an investigation.

Pretendian “Cocaine Randy” may be an embarrassment to the Liberal party, but it seems he only attempted to benefit himself personally with prestige and perhaps with contracts (not yet confirmed by any court ruling).

Buffy Ste. Marie’s seems to have capitalized on her Pretendian identity, but also used it for the benefit of thousands of Indigenous people in the US and Canada, despite scooping various opportunities and awards that would not have been hers. While Buffy’s expose might be a triumph for CBC’s Fifth Estate (which seemed particularly delighted to destroy her reputation IMO), Kimberly Murray’s possible Pretendian status may have destroyed Canada’s reputation internationally. Certainly, within Canada, all her work has done is to drive a stake into the heart of once-tolerant Canada and to amplify mass grave psychosis and vicious anti-Catholic, anti-Christian sentiment, foisting a blood libel on this nation which once enjoyed enviable peace, order and good government. On top of it, she wants commentaries like this one to be criminalized, and people like me to be silenced. Wonder why?

“Cocaine Randy” reportedly has the police on the trail of his former company and partner, the brilliant Buffy Ste. Marie has reportedly scrubbed her website of certain Indigeneity claims, but so far no questions about “Criminal Court” Kimberly Murray. Indeed, she is treated like a saint by mainstream media.

Oh, Canada. No wonder the Pretendians and Part-endians don’t want people like me asking difficult questions.

Maybe Fifth Estate can get to work.

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