University of Sask. appoints independent investigator to examine Carrie Bourassa's Indigenous identity claims

The University of Saskatchewan has announced that it has appointed an independent investigator, high-profile Metis lawyer JeanTeillet,to examine professor Carrie Bourassa's many claims to Indigenous identity.

Earlier this month, the U of S put Bourassa on leave following aCBC investigation that revealed there was no evidence that Bourassa was Mtis, Anishnaabe and Tlingit, as she had publicly claimed.

In an interview, U of S provost Airini, who goes by one name,told CBCthe investigation will focus on the possibility that Bourassa misrepresented herself.

"The question is has there been misrepresentation that has undermined the fundamental trust relationship between employer and employee?" she said. "We're going to do everything we can as a university to respect the sovereignty of Indigenous peoplesand to not adjudicate ourselves on identity. We're going to stay in that space which is oursof the employer and employee relationship."

On Nov.1, the university said ithad "placed Dr. Bourassa on leave and she is relieved of all her duties as professor in the USask College of Medicine in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology," adding that it intendedto launch an investigation.

On Wednesday, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canada's federal agency for funding health research, cut ties with Bourassa.

On Thursday,the university said in an email that its investigation is about to get underway.

"The investigation is being led by an independent external investigator, Jean Teillet (Jean Teillet Personal Law Corporation) who specializes in Indigenous rights law," saidthe emailed statement.

Teillet says she is Red River Mtis and the great-grandniece of LouisRiel.

Airini told CBCthe investigation is independent of the university.

"It's actually for the investigator to determine what information is needed so that the investigator can undertake deliberations and then generate findings from that," she said.

Teillet's online biography describes a long career dealing with a broad range of issues facing Indigenous people.

"Jean has long been engaged in negotiations and litigation with provincial and federal governments concerning Mtis and First Nation land rights, harvesting rights and self-government,"the biography says.

Teillet appears to have direct experience with some Indigenous groups that are immediately relevant to the Bourassa investigation.

Her biography says she was "a founder of the Mtis Nation of Ontario and the National Aboriginal Moot."

It also notes that she represented the Taku River Tlingit First Nation in a court case against British Columbia.

Shealso served as counsel for the landmark case R. v. Powley, in which the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed constitutional protection forMtis harvesting rights, her biography says.

The U of S says "Indigenous faculty and staff will be included in the investigation process," though it doesn't spell out what that means.

"Once completed, the university will communicate the outcomes, subject to confidentiality," it says.

The University says that in addition to this investigation, it plans to take part in "the larger nationalconversation around Indigenous identity."