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Randy Boissonnault, also known as Strong Eagle Man, must step away from public service. The politician – who once regaled Parliament with the story of his alleged Cree Bird of Prey title – must resign.

Randy the Eagle Strongman — not to be confused with The macho man Randy Savage of the former World Wrestling Federation — can now be added to the annals of Indige-nots: a short but ignominious list of Disgraced Canadian public figures who have exploited a fictional or greatly exaggerated Indigenous identity to advance their careers.

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Boissonnault was first elected as a Liberal MP in 2015 and has held various positions within the party, including special advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on LGBTQ issues and, currently, Minister of Employment. He was also a member of the party’s Indigenous caucus, of which he now claims he was an “ally”.

Her claim to an indigenous identity comes through her adoptive mother; Boissonnault has already referred several times to his “pure blood” great-grandmother in the House of Commons, but he claimed more recently the woman who adopted him has “Métis status”. Boissonnault now publicly describes himself as “white”, an abandonment of his identity as “Cre adopted without status”.

Does he have an explanation for all these identity exchanges? Of course he does. His spokesperson says the family was simply exploring their roots and making new discoveries. A classic gesture among the grocery sellers.

Boissonnault’s embarrassing story of racial fluidity might have ended there, were it not for last week’s announcement National Post Exclusive showing that a company he owned, Global Health Imports (GHI), had identified itself as “Indigenous and LGBTQ” owned when bidding for federal contracts in June 2020 through Canada. Procurement Strategy Program for Indigenous Businesses. His former business partner, Stephen Anderson, who submitted the bids, does not appear to have any Indigenous ancestry. And neither is Boissonnault, who now identifies as a white man. There is nothing indigenous about GHI.

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While Boissonnault’s office said “Mr. Anderson had full responsibility for the bids,” the two were in regular contact when the bids were being made.

But wait, there’s more: Boissonnault had already the subject of an investigation by a House of Commons ethics committee for failing to fully withdraw from leadership of GHI after being sworn in for public office, which would constitute a violation of the Conflict of Interest Act. A mysterious and as yet unidentified “different Randy” was helping Anderson run GHI in Boissannault’s absence.

The mysterious Randy seems to suffer from the same shifting identity as Strong Eagle Man. He is both the victim of a pesky “autocorrect” and is not a “Randy” at all, but is also simply a “different Randy” who cannot be named for unexplained privacy reasons.

Not surprisingly, Boissonnault was accused of other acts of lying. At his request, the Liberal Party once referred to him as a former “journalist and political commentator.” The Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec (FPJQ) has I said it was just wrong.. Boissonnault made no effort to clarify.

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Additionally, Conservative MP Michael Cooper accused Boissonnault of mislead the House of Commons by claiming he had turned over his phone records for the GHI ethics investigation – when he had, Cooper said, only turned over records from one device. “It shows how little respect there isTrudeauand its ministers have for Canadians and the little respect they have for the law. They think they are above the law,” Cooper said at a June 2024 ethics committee meeting.

Cooper makes an excellent point: what kind of company does Justin Trudeau keep? At this point, Boissonnault’s credibility is as questionable as a man’s self-reported height on a dating app. (Six feet tall? Sure, Eagle Man.) I might even believe someone if they told me that Boissonnault was the inspiration behind the Bitcoin idiom: “Don’t trust, verify.” If Boissonnault told me what time it was, I would ask to speak to his sources. The man makes fun of the civil service. It’s time for him to leave.

And after Boissonnault submits his resignation papers, we should take a moment for some national introspection. Is it helpful for Canadians to revere “Indigenous identity” so much that the status – and financial benefits – it confers are attractive to shameless swindlers and swindlers? And how many more Indiges-non-Indiges will it take for us to change our minds?

National Post

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