MIDLAND — An upcoming discussion at the Art Gallery of Hamilton is ruffling some local feathers.
On Jan. 23, the gallery is hosting a talk as part of its Speakers of Truth series titled “Pretendians or Indigenous Fraudsters,” with activists Crystal Semaganis of the Ghost Warrior Society and Jeremy Bomberry from the Six Nations of the Grand River.
Penetanguishene resident Jason Francis Brown, who identifies as a “proud two-spirit Métis member of the Georgian Bay Métis Community and registered citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario [MNO],” wrote to the gallery recently with a “heavy heart” and “sense of urgency" over Semaganis’s inclusion in the program to “speak on the sensitive issue of pretendians.”
“While I recognize the importance of addressing the misuse and falsification of Indigenous identities, I must assert that providing Crystal with a platform on this matter is both troubling and counterproductive,” Brown wrote in his letter to the gallery.
'Pretendian' is one of several pejorative terms used to describe someone who falsely claims Indigenous identity, often for personal or professional gain.
A gallery blurb promoting the event describes the talk as part of an ongoing series of “kitchen table talks led by Indigenous activists, protectors and educators covering topics essential to Truth and Reconciliation. This month’s event will focus on the complex truth about the history and the ongoing legacy of Federal Indian Day Schools.”
Village Media reached out to the gallery regarding the event and Brown's hope that it will be cancelled, but hadn’t received a response prior to publication.
However, Semaganis isn’t backing down, calling the MNO a collection of "settler grifters or non-status descendants of a First Nation" and calls Brown “delusional.”
“Jason Francis Brown just doesn't want me to impact his book sales,” says Semaganis, referring to Brown’s recently published book, Odyssey Canoe: The Origin of Rougarou.
“No one in Jason's family has ever been scooped or went to an Indian residential school. Not sure what colonial harms he's suffered ... but running out of cream at Starbucks in (Sault Ste. Marie) doesn't count.”
Brown, meanwhile, notes that while he's not worried about book sales since his “work speaks for itself and stands firmly on its own merit,” he's surprised by Semaganis's suggestion that he is from Sault Ste. Marie.
“Given my extensive body of work and public presence, I’m not sure how she missed that detail,” Brown tells Village Media. “Secondly, her statement about ‘colonial harms’ is contradictory at best. How does one make a definitive claim like that while admitting, 'I’m not sure?'
“It’s a dismissive oversimplification that demonstrates a lack of understanding about how colonial systems have impacted Métis families, including mine," Brown added. "The notion that harm must fit a narrow, predefined mould to be valid is exactly the kind of reductive thinking we should be moving away from as Indigenous people."
Semaganis goes on to point out that she feels she is having “an impact on the MNO Métis grift.”
The MNO receives more than $200 million in annual funding from the provincial and federal governments, something that upsets Semaganis, who is originally from Saskatchewan but now lives in Temagami in northern Ontario.
“They have more funding and programs, post-secondary education dollars than a Status Indian does in Ontario and probably more than any in Canada,`she says.
Semaganis says her organization, the Ghost Warrior Society, estimates that only 15 per cent of MNO members “are actually Red River (Metis). Forty per cent are non-status descendants of a First Nation and the rest are straight-up settlers.”
But Brown says Semaganis’s view that the Métis Nation of Ontario is a “fake” entity is “deeply harmful and dismissive of the lived experiences and documented histories of thousands of Métis citizens, including myself and my family.”
Brown says the art gallery must “critically examine how hosting Crystal legitimates, by proxy, her divisive and misinformed position on the MNO.”
Brown, who notes that Semaganis regularly targets the genealogical backgrounds of specific MNO members she considers to be "pretendians," says the art gallery holds a position of influence in the province’s artistic and cultural landscape.
He adds: “Hosting Crystal Semaganis on this matter not only undermines that responsibility, but also risks perpetuating harm to Metis and other Indigenous communities who are already navigating complex and often painful conversations about identity and belonging."
