Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond no longer employed by UBC | 24CA News

High-profile professor and former choose Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond is now not employed on the University of British Columbia (UBC), in accordance with an official with the establishment. 

The college says that as of Dec.16, Turpel-Lafond is now not a professor within the Peter A. Allard School of Law. 

When requested why, a spokesperson stated, “I’m afraid I cannot provide those details due to privacy law.” 

Last fall, Turpel-Lafond was the topic of a CBC investigation into her claims of Indigenous ancestry. For a long time she had stated she was a treaty Indian of Cree ancestry, however CBC discovered no proof of that. All documentation indicated she was of European descent.

CBC additionally reported that she had made inaccurate public claims about her educational accomplishments. 

From 2018 till mid-2022, Turpel Lafond served because the director of UBC’s Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC). She left that function in June however remained a professor in UBC’s faculty of regulation. 

In a press release issued to the Globe and Mail on Oct. 12, the day CBC’s story broke, UBC provided public help for Turpel-Lafond, praising her work because the director of the IRSHDC, acknowledging her “deep connections with Indigenous peoples across Canada.” 

The college added that she was not employed due to her Indigenous ancestry claims. 

“Indigenous identity was not a criterion,” a spokesperson stated. “[Turpel-Lafond’s] identity is her own and the university is not going to comment on it.” 

In the wake of the story, a group known as the Indigenous Women’s Collective issued a press release, saying “we are deeply troubled that First Nations professionals, politicians and university leaders have been too swift to publicly defend an individual claiming to hold Treaty Indian status and Indigeneity, when in fact there is no verifiable evidence to support that claim.” 

The group known as on 11 Canadian universities to revoke the honorary doctorates that they had given her. All of these establishments say they’re taking the request severely and are inspecting the matter. 

CBC requested Turpel-Lafond for remark, however she had not replied by time of publication.