Indigenous filmmaker wants fines, jail time for ‘pretendians’ who misrepresent their identity – CBC
Tamara Bell points to U.S. legislation with $250,000 fine or five-year prison term for false representation
Jan 19, 2021
A Haida filmmaker is pushing for new legislation in Canada to penalize people who pretend to be Indigenous in order to access grants, awards and jobs intended for Indigenous people.
Tamara Bell said she wants those who misrepresent their identity to face fines and even prison time.
Bell’s move comes on the heels of Indigenous elders exposing filmmaker Michelle Latimer’s unfounded claims that she was Indigenous. Latimer, who recently directed the CBC television series Trickster and the documentary Inconvenient Indian, is in fact primarily French Canadian, Irish and Scottish.
Read More: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/calls-for-pretendians-to-face-fines-jail-1.5878330