Kevin Klein — no, not the famous Hollywood actor, but an alleged actor nonetheless — has just been outed for presumably faking indigenous status, a phenomenon informally called “pretendianism.”
As one observer has rightly claimed, “Practically every month, somewhere in the country, some person comes under fire for claiming their ancestors frolicked with the moose instead of merely watching from the bushes.”
Manitoba’s Kevin Kline is the province’s energy minister, a portfolio whose energy sources are mainly in the bushes.
The Manitoba government’s website continues to identify Klein as Métis, even though Métis associations, a prominent Métis lawyer and Klein’s own brother all dispute the claim.
Klein says he belongs to the Painted Feather Woodland Métis, an organization not recognized by either the Manitoba Métis Federation or the Métis Nation of Ontario. Rather, it’s a for-profit company based out of a single-family residence near a small community northeast of Toronto.
Klein claims Métis status through his late mother, whom he has publicly identified as Indigenous.
“I’m not self-identifying, nor am I using it, nor am I mentioning it every time I open my mouth. It is a family issue for me and a connection to my mother,” Klein said in an interview during his failed run for mayor of Winnipeg last fall.
Genealogical research done by CBC News — some going back five generations — found no evidence, not a shred, that Klein’s mother has a Métis or other Indigenous ancestor.
Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said she won’t judge whether the former mayoral candidate and city councillor is Métis.
“Look, in our party we don’t police people’s identity and I think that Minister Klein does an incredible job in his ministerial portfolio. He also does a great job representing his constituents. Those are the things that we care about.”
This is a lame excuse if there ever was one, given the way indigenous identity fraud has roundly been condemned in recent years, resulting in the exposure and removal from their high-ranking positions of many famous people, something the premier surely knows.
That Kline may be a bullsh*t artist trying to parlay a fake pedigree to a better way of life seems to be of no concern to a political leader desperate to cling to power in an early October provincial election.
If he resigns or is removed from office, he would be the highest ranking elected Canadian politician to be de-platformed in this way.
Equally disconcerting is the way the deep-pocketed CBC has exposed countless frauds over the years, including most recently indigenous identity fraud, but does nothing except blindly accept other aboriginal frauds like the fake claim of genocide committed in the Indian residential schools.
Political hypocrisy has no limits, it seems.
Hymie Rubenstein is a retired professor of anthropology, The University of Manitoba, and editor of The REAL Indigenous Issues Newsletter.
