Memorial University’s Board of Regents has approved its Indigenous Verification Policy after a consultation process that involved more than 15 Indigenous Nations, communities, and organizations. The policy will help ensure that opportunities intended for Indigenous people are held by Indigenous people, with decision-making authority resting with Indigenous peoples. There are three verification pathways, enabling Indigenous people to submit official documentation while reserving a path for those who are displaced or disconnected from their communities. The policy has been positively received by the Innu Nation and the Nunatsiavut Government, both of which emphasized the importance of preventing Indigenous identity fraud. The NunatuKavut Community Council—which CBC says is a group of self-identifying Inuit that is not recognized by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami—expressed their “profound disappointment” with the policy’s exclusion of their community. “I think it’s really important to underscore that Memorial is not determining who is or isn’t Indigenous,” said Memorial President Janet Morrison. “The policy places decision-making authority where it belongs with recognized Indigenous collectives.”
