Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault says his shifting claims from being “non-status adoptive Cree” to recently stating his adoptive mother is “status Métis” are a “reflection of his family exploring their own history” and not him claiming Indigenous status.

Boissonnault’s spokesperson Alice Hansen sent National Post a statement Tuesday offering new details about the minister’s changing stories about his adoptive family’s identity, which had raised concerns among some Indigenous people.