She was a featured speaker at an event called the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, billed as “Canada’s largest gathering of academics across disciplines.” It brought some 6,000 “academics, researchers, policy makers and practitioners” to the University of Victoria (UVic) to help “shape the Canada of tomorrow”. At the time, Turpel-Lafond was BC’s spokesperson for children and youth, tasked by the BC legislature with holding the provincial government accountable for the treatment of youth in care. The former judge and law professor urged the crowd to take seriously the plight of marginalized Indigenous children, where “we have lousy teachers. We have lousy schools. We have very poor quality support for these children.” To show the crowd how their individual action could help uplift a marginalized person, she offered an example from her own life. “John Neilson, where are you,” he asked. Nilsson was apparently in the crowd. Between 1995 and 1999 he was Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Saskatchewan. He eventually tracked him down and said he “gave me a QC as a barrister, which gave me a lot of standing, even though I myself was a very marginalized voice in the legal profession”. The QC designation is an important honor awarded by the provincial government to accomplished lawyers. Watch Turpel-Lafond thank Nilson:
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond speaking at the 2013 Conference
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond speaks at the 2013 Congressional Hearing on the Marginalized on Addressing Inequality. Surprisingly, the CBC could find no evidence that she was actually granted a QC According to a Justice Department statement, “there is no record of a QC determination” for Turpel-Lafond. The Law Society of Saskatchewan echoed this point. Her claim is also implausible for another reason. A QC is only awarded to lawyers with at least 10 years of service. Turpel-Lafond was called to the bar in 1991 and appointed judge in 1998, giving her just seven years. Reviewers are not eligible to receive a QC designation. In an email, the CBC asked Turpel-Lafond why she claimed to have QC She has not responded. Nilson, who retired from politics in 2016, also has not responded to a series of voicemails, emails and text messages. In 1994, Time magazine named Turpel-Lafond one of “The Global 100” leaders of the new millennium. (Peter Sibbald for Time) For more than three decades, Turpel-Lafond has been at the forefront of Canadian public life, helping to shape policy and legislation related to Indigenous peoples. All this time he claimed to be of Cre Indian descent. But last month, the CBC published an investigation that found some of her claims about her Cree heritage, Indian status, the community where she grew up and her academic achievements were inconsistent with publicly available documents. He has since issued a public statement on Twitter that does not contradict any facts outlined in the CBC investigation. The revelation about Turpel-Lafond’s alleged QC designation is just one of many inconsistencies that have come to light since the original CBC story was published. Taken together, they seem to present a pattern — that Turpel-Lafond has made claims about her identity or her accomplishments that are not supported by publicly available documentation. The CBC received a series of tips that led to more unanswered questions about Turpel-Lafond. In addition, her ex-husband, Mark Austin, decided to speak out publicly, offering his opinion that Turpel-Lafond is not “evil or a crook” but “more like a flawed hero.”
A missing book
In her 2018 biography, Turpel-Lafond claimed to have written a book that, according to a CBC investigation, does not appear to actually exist. The bio states that the book Indigenous Custom Adoption and Reconciliation was published in 2017. However, a Google search for this title reveals only one hit — Turpel-Lafond’s bio. Her bio says she co-authored the book with Professor Grant Charles. In an email, the CBC asked the UBC social work professor if he could provide a copy. “The 2017 book you mentioned doesn’t ring a bell,” he replied. By email, the CBC asked Turpel-Lafond for a copy of the book or an explanation of why she claimed to have written a book that doesn’t exist. She didn’t answer. In her 2018 bio, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond says she authored a book entitled Indigenous Custom Adoption and Reconciliation. (www.mmiwg-ffada.ca) According to Grant Charles, he and Turpel-Lafond have done some work together on the issue of customary adoption. In his email to CBC, Charles said that in 2017 they worked on a paper on the subject, but never published it. Additionally, when Turpel-Lafond was BC’s spokesperson for children and youth, Charles served as her advisor and worked on a 36-page report on foster adoption that her office published in 2015.
Master’s thesis on the adoption of customs by indigenous people
There is another aspect to the book’s story that is missing. Turpel-Lafond’s bio lists the publisher as “Dawn Thomas”. CBC was unable to locate a publishing company by this name. However, the CBC has learned that Turpel-Lafond had a student named Dawn Thomas, who was also her employee and friend. In the acknowledgments for her 2016 master’s thesis, Dawn Thomas refers to Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond as “my mentor, my friend, and my boss.” (Dawn Thomas/Facebook) Thomas wrote her master’s thesis in 2016 on the adoption of indigenous customs to complete her studies at UVic. The first page states that the clients for the dissertation were Drs. Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, Spokesperson for Children and Youth and Dr. Grant Charles, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, University of British Columbia. In the acknowledgments section, Thomas thanks Turpel-Lafond, calling her “my mentor, my friend and my boss.” In January 2015, Turpel-Lafond appointed Thomas as her Deputy Spokesperson for Children and Youth. Turpel-Lafond’s resume says that in 2015-16 she was an external examiner for Thomas in connection with her work on a master’s in dispute resolution at UVic. “Mary Ellen supported me and believed in me from the moment she knew I was working to complete my master’s degree,” Thomas wrote. “There is no way I could have finished this project without her support.” Of Grant Charles, he said “his patience, support and sense of humor saved me more than once during this process.” In emails to Charles and Thomas, the CBC asked if they could shed some light on their professional relationships with each other and with Turpel-Lafond, and on these various work related to customary adoption. Nobody has answered. The CBC has verified that Turpel-Lafond has published two books. In 1993, he co-authored In the Rapids: Navigating the Future of First Nations with former Assembly of First Nations chief Ovide Mercredi. Then, in 2004, she wrote Maskêko-Sâkahikanihk: 100 Years for a Saskatchewan First Nation, which examines the history of the Muskeg Cree Lake Nation, to which she married in the mid-1990s. In a 2005 interview with the Saskatchewan Sage about the Muskeg Lake book, Turpel-Lafond told the reporter, “I’ve written a couple of books in the past… One with Ovide Mercredi on First Nations history and law, and I’ve written law books.” It is not clear which “law books” she may have been referring to, as they are not described in her CV.
False claim to membership in law firms
It’s not just a book that’s missing. Turpel-Lafond’s name is also absent from the membership rolls of law societies in both Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan, despite her public claims to the contrary. A 2018 press release announcing Turpel-Lafond’s appointment as director of UBC’s Center for Indian Residential School History and Dialogue said she was a member of the Nova Scotia law firm. And in 2022, on the website of her newly formed law firm lmlawgroup.ca this claim is repeated. However, according to an official with the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, he has not been a member of the organization since 1998. This 2022 profile also stated that he is a member of the Saskatchewan Law Society. That organization said it has not been a member since June 2018, when it “changed its membership status to inactive.” Both the Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan organizations told the CBC that if someone falsely claimed membership, they would be immediately reached out and asked to stop.
Solution of the law firm
In August, Turpel-Lafond and BC lawyer Leah Mack registered Lafond & Mack Law Group LLP, a new firm described on its website as “wholly Indigenous owned and operated.” He noted that the two women were founders and partners. Lafond & Mack Law Group, founded in August, promoted itself as “wholly indigenously owned and operated.” (lmlawgroup.ca) Less than a week after the CBC published its investigation, Turpel-Lafond’s name and profile were temporarily removed from the site. In an email, Mack said that although she and Turpel-Lafond had registered a company, notified the law firm and created a website, their partnership was still in an exploratory phase. He said that recently, “they determined that this [partnership] it was not possible for strictly business reasons,” noting that they are now unwinding the deal, adding “you caught us in this transition.” CBC asked Mack if the investigation into Turpel-Lafond and her parentage claims played a role in that decision. Mack didn’t answer. It appears that the two women continue to work together, but with a significant difference. The firm is now called Mack Law Corp. The sole founder and partner is listed as Leah Mack. Turpel-Lafond appears to be a staff attorney.
The name is not on the official list of band members
Turpel-Lafond…
