Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond removed from Order of Canada at own request

Former judge and law professor Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond has been removed from the ranks of Canadians holding the country’s top honour.

In a notice posted to the Nov. 4 edition of the Canada Gazette, the federal government said Turpel-Lafond’s appointment to the Order of Canada was terminated “at her individual request.”

The termination was signed on Sept. 26. Turpel-Lafond was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2021.

0:44 Turpel-Lafond reacts to removal of award from B.C. Civil Liberties Association

Turpel-Lafond has returned or been stripped of a number of awards and honorary titles, after her claims of Indigenous ancestry were discredited.

McGill University, Carleton University and the University of Regina have each rescinded awards granted to her, while she has voluntarily returned honorary degrees from Simon Fraser University and Brock University among others.

In March, the BC Civil Liberties Association revoked the Reg Robson Award from Turpel-Lafond, saying she had failed to account for questions about her heritage and professional accomplishments.

She served as director of the UBC Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre until June 2022, and parted ways with the university’s Allard School of Law in January this year.

1:24 Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond is no longer employed at UBC

Turpel-Lafond, who also served as B.C.’s former representative for Children and Youth, fell from grace in following a series of CBC reports in October 2022 that questioned her claims to Cree heritage.

In a statement posted to her Twitter account that month, she maintained she was “of Cree, Scottish & English heritage & hold the name aki-kwe & am an active member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation. My credentials have been vetted at the highest levels of our country.”

At the time Muskeg Cree Nation Chief Kelly Wolf confirmed Turpel-Lafond had been a member of the nation for three decades, and that she was a member of one of its kinship families.

In March, she told the Canadian Press that she was satisfied in her past work, identity and self-worth, and it’s “liberating” to be freed of honours because it permits her to “focus on what really matters” in her life.

— with files from the Canadian Press