From writers and academics to politicians and even convicted murderers, why are people who claim to be Cherokee so prominent in Canadian “pretendian” cases?
Although Métis, Mi'kmaq and Abenaki communities are the Nations most often targeted by unsubstantiated and false claims to Indigenous heritage in Canada, the controversies involving Cherokee claimants may surprise many Canadians.
This is not unexpected. In the United States, it’s so common for non-Native people to claim Cherokee heritage that a family history myth has taken root — one so pervasive that even Ancestry.com warns users against it.
The “Cherokee syndrome” is a phenomenon in which someone claims an unverified distant Cherokee ancestor as the sole foundation on which they build a shallow Indigenous identity.
Most discussions of this phenomenon point to a mix of motivations for these heritage claims.
They include the desire for white settler descendants to distance themselves from their heritage’s history of colonial violence, co-opting Indigeneity for personal or political purposes — often to support right-wing white grievance politics — and basic greed for resources and opportunities belonging to Indigenous Peoples.
In all cases vague, essentialist claims to supposed “blood” are asserted as being more important and more “real” than actual Indigenous cultural belonging, verifiable kinship or confirmed political status.
As a globally recognized Indigenous Nation with a long...
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