OTTAWA – For years, the Liberal Party of Canada touted Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault as an Indigenous MP and part of the “largest number of Indigenous MPs” ever elected in a Canadian government, despite the fact Boissonnault now says he has never claimed Indigenous status.

Between 2016 and 2019, the Liberal Party of Canada and its Indigenous Peoples’ Commission (IPC), a group that advocates for Indigenous issues within the party, repeatedly identified Boissonnault as part of a group of nine “Indigenous MPs” who formed the Indigenous Liberal caucus.