Sandi L. Boucher (Seine River First Nation) addresses people she calls "Descendians"—those with distant Indigenous ancestry—and questions why they claim Indigenous identity when the ancestral link is several generations back. She contrasts honest reclaiming (people whose families were denied teachings) with "pretendian" behavior where people claim indigeneity for privilege or benefits, and urges transparency about community ties, lived experience, and the price paid for being Indigenous.
Chapters
There's a huge difference between talking about someone and talking to someone. So today I want to do something different. I want to talk to descendants, not about them, because I have some questions. So let's talk about it. Hi everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River First Nation in Treaty 3 territory, territory in Northern Ontario, Canada. And it's been in the news for ages. So many pretendions, people pretending to be Indigenous or descendants speaking up for Indigenous. And if you're not sure the word descendian is someone who has some indigenous ancestry, but it's so far back in their family tree that it really doesn't influence or it wasn't one of the cultural influences that impact how they look at the world. And there's a really good chance they have no Indigenous lived experience. In some cases it might be the hiding or the shame of being Indigenous, but as a general rule, the privilege of other cultures has overtaken that one indigenous puzzle piece. So as I mentioned in the opening today, I don't want to talk about descendants. I want to talk to them for a moment and oh, handy dandy index card today. This is straight from my heart to yours. Often in the realm of reconciliation, which is the world I operate in, often whatever I'm working with an audience on requires unpacking. And what that means is looking at where is this coming from? So when it comes to a descendant, in this case, I am specifically talking about that person who has one indigenous ancestor and it's four, five, six generations back. And now they're telling people that they're Indigenous or even in some cases that they have Indigenous ancestry. My first question is why? Why do you want to claim that puzzle piece now? And that may sound weird, but there's a lot that goes into that. For example, what about all your other puzzle pieces? Obviously neither of your parents are claiming Indigenous indigeneity because you had to go that far back in your family tree to find that Indigenous puzzle piece. So what's wrong with the cultures of your parents? And see, that's one of the things I'm talking about. I see so many descendants wanting to claim Indigenous ancestry because they don't like being thought of as a colonizer or a settler or a settler descendant. They want to be on the other side of history rather than owning what their forefathers have done, they want to be on the side of the victim because that seems to be, you know, fighting for the underdog. And that's they Feel disempowered. So they're trying to identify with that. But what they don't understand is the fact that they now want to stand up and claim that puzzle piece with pride. It is really hard to claim indigeneity with pride Now I definitely do it. It took so much healing to get here. So again a case of wanting the rhythm without the blues. I am wondering why you want to disregard the other puzzle pieces. Why you're not proud of all your puzzle pieces. Why you want to identify as a puzzle piece four generations back. Now the problem with pretendions is because of the benefits. These are people who want to ran out of steam there. These are people who want to identify as indigenous for what it can get them. May they get to apply for a job that's indigenous exclusive. Maybe they get to apply for funding that's indigenous exclusive. Maybe they get to apply for an award or a bursary that's indigenous specific. That is a trait of a pretendian, a non indigenous person going after the so called benefits that indigenous people have paid true indigenous people have paid in spades for. So the descendants that have ancestry way back when, is that why you're doing it? Because that would put you closer to being a pretendian than it would be indigenous. The people I love the most and I've met several have identified that they are indigenous. Their grandmother, their grandfather are indigenous. But through Canadian history and no fault of their own, they were denied those teachings and they're now on the beginning of their indigenous journey. That's just honesty. That transparency is beautiful. And I've yet to meet an indigenous person that doesn't want to work with someone that's that honest. But if you can't, if I ask you so you're indigenous like what's your community? And you get all bent out of shape and can't answer that question, then maybe you shouldn't be claiming it. I'm not saying deny it. I'm saying are you the person that should be stepping up and saying you're indigenous? What are the price? What is the price you've paid for being indigenous? What is your Indigenous journey? Have you been discriminated against? Have you been marginalized? What indigenous influence in your family did you have? Did anyone speak the language? Did anyone practice any customers or customs? Not customers. Did anyone attend residential school? Claiming as an identity one puzzle piece five generations back is problematic at its core. You go ahead and say you have some indigenous ancestry. I think it's more accurate to say I'm whatever and whatever and I even have a little bit of indigenous ancestry way back when. That would be honest but also mean that you can't bid for those jobs or that bursary or the funding. I think that would be accurate. I think that would be honest. I think that's what we need to aim for. So what are your thoughts? What do you think? I would love to hear from you, especially if you're a Descendian because you gotta unpack why you want to claim that puzzle piece. Why? What's wrong with the other puzzle pieces? Because indigenous is not better than another culture. It's just another culture. We're not going to bring this feather together if we keep insisting that one is better than the other even when we're trying to say it's indigenous that is better. I can't wait to hear your thoughts until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye bye.
