Turpel-Lafonde won’t sue CBC over Cree heritage report that took ‘heavy toll’: lawyer

The lawyer for a former judge whose claims to be Cree were questioned in a CBC investigation says his client is not considering legal action against the broadcaster after the Law Society of British Columbia this week backed her claims about her Indigenous heritage.

Instead, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond “wants to move on with her life,” attorney David Wotherspoon said Friday, a day after the release of an agreed statement of facts between his client and the association, which said an independent geneticist had determined she “highly likely” had very recent ancestors with substantial Indigenous DNA.

It was said that the DNA test and genetic analysis were performed by Turpel-Lafond.

“She’s not interested in looking back. She wants to move forward,” Wotherspoon said in a telephone interview.

He said the allegations against her have taken a “heavy toll.”

Turpel-Lafond, a lawyer known for her work in Indigenous rights, previously served as the Children and Youth Representative in British Columbia and was awarded the Order of Canada.

She also served as director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia, where she was a tenured professor of law until the end of 2022.

Her Indigenous identity was called into question in 2022 by a CBC News investigation, which also found that she had distorted some of her qualifications.

After the CBC investigation, Turpel-Lafond was expelled from the Order of Canada at her own request and returned honorary degrees from several universities. Other universities revoked their awards.

The Bar Association conducted an 18-month investigation that resulted in an agreed statement of facts released Thursday.

“The DNA test results indicate that genomic markers known to be disproportionately prevalent among indigenous populations are also present in the attorney’s DNA sequencing results,” the court said in an agreed statement of facts.

In addition to the findings about her ancestry, the bar association confirmed that Turpel-Lafond had misrepresented certain qualifications, including her time as a professor at Dalhousie Law School. She was also ordered to pay $10,000 to a nonprofit organization that works to achieve justice for Indigenous peoples.

A CBC spokesperson said the bar association’s report supplements the original reporting, which the broadcaster stands behind.

“CBC News reported that some of Turpel-Lafond’s claims about her Cree ancestry, her treaty Indian status, the community she grew up in and her academic performance are inconsistent with publicly available documents,” said Chuck Thompson, director of public affairs, in an email.

“Nothing in the (Thursday) report changes those findings. We welcome new information, which CBC News will investigate as we would investigate any new elements of a story that come to light.”

Turpel-Lafond’s lawyer said having “her identity stolen from her” based on false information had damaged his client both professionally and personally.

“Her parents and grandparents told her that her father was Cree. And she had an excellent career that was largely focused on doing work on behalf of First Nations, and she is an expert in that area of ​​the law,” Wotherspoon said.

“And then to be wrongly accused of being non-Indigenous — just for anyone to tear apart the fabric of who they are. And that has taken a huge toll on her.”

He said Turpel-Lafond had not yet decided what her next steps would be.

“I can tell you that I have encouraged her to return to practice because I think the contribution she makes to the legal community is enormous, and it will be missed,” he said. “But I don’t know if she will.”

When asked if Turpel-Lafond would seek reinstatement to the Order of Canada, Wotherspoon said they had not discussed the matter.

“It would certainly be nice if the members of the Order of Canada would recognize that she deserves the award and voluntarily return it to her,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 26, 2024.