Indigenous concert in Vancouver cancelled over questions about performer's identity claims
The Vancouver Park Board and Britannia Community Services Centre cancelled an event Sunday that had been advertised as part of an Indigenous concert series in Grandview Park.
The cancellation came after community members raised concerns over whether the person booked to headline the show is actually Indigenous.
In lieu of the concert, staff from Britannia led a discussion in the park with community members to explain the situation.
"The mistake that we made for an Indigenous Concert Series was that we hired a self-identified Indigenous person without acknowledging or checking with their family, their nation, or the Indigenous family of East Van to hold them up,” said Cynthia Low, executive director at Britannia.
Michelle Wright, who uses the stage name Michelle Heyoka, is the artist who was booked to headline the event.
In March of 2022 she was a featured performer at a First Nation’s night hosted by the Vancouver Canucks.
She also sang the national anthem at a Canucks Truth and Reconciliation night during an exhibition game in Abbotsford in October.
In a 2021 interview for a YouTube show called Music Talks with Miss Sapphire, the host asked Wright to discuss her heritage.
“I’m an Indigenous woman. My background is Mizo, which is a native and Chinese tribe located in India,” Wright answered.
The Indigenous events she has taken part in are meant to be celebrations of people Indigenous to Canada.
"They're co-opting an identity that allows them to move into those spaces and start mining away at what benefits them from having that identity,” said Diane Hellson, an Indigenous musician who performs under the name Mama Rude Gyal.
A 2021 City of Reconciliation document from Vancouver city staff to council members lists Michelle Heyoka alongside a number of Indigenous artists who have received grants from the Vancouver Music Fund.
In a statement, the City of Vancouver told CTV News it is "aware of this evolving story and will consider next steps in due course.”
"The city understands the importance of ensuring that funding earmarked for Indigenous peoples is distributed appropriately," the statement said.
Recently, many people have been accused of Indigenous identity fraud, including prominent lawyer Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond and Carrie Bourassa, a university health professor.
In the wake of Bourassa’s dismissal from her position at the University of Saskatchewan after the allegations surfaced, Vancouver-based Indigenous rights lawyer Jean Teillet wrote a report on Indigenous identity fraud for the university.
"This is happening all over. We're watching these exposés pop up and those exposés are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Teillet. “There are tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people who are doing this."
Late in the day Sunday, after Britannia Community Centre staff had left, Wright did give an impromptu performance in Grandview Park and shared videos of her singing on social media.
She declined to be interviewed by CTV News, but did provide a screenshot of what she says is a DNA test showing she is 49.7% “East Asian and Native American.”
The screenshot contained no information identifying the company that allegedly conducted the test and did not provide a detailed breakdown of Wright’s ethnicity.
She insists she is Indigenous to the Americas although she acknowledges that she has no ties to any Indigenous nations or communities in Canada.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
What's a Barnacle? It's yellow, sticks and screams if you try to pry it off your car
Barnacles, bright yellow devices used to make sure parking scofflaws pay their tickets, could soon be making their way to cities across Canada.
Verdun Airbnb listing taken down amid complaints, fines and frustration from neighbours
An Airbnb in Montreal's Verdun borough was the source of much frustration from neighbours who say there were constant parties at the location. It has been taken down from the app, but housing advocates remain upset about short-term rentals.
Man who set himself on fire outside Trump trial dies of injuries, police say
A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former U.S. President Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said.
They were from different countries and barely spoke each other's languages. More than 20 years later, they're still happily in love
He decided to spend Christmas somewhere that wouldn't involve snowstorm disasters. She was spending the holidays with family, travelling for the first time outside of her native country of Venezuela. 23 years later, they're still in love.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
Fire in Labrador town under control, officials tells residents to stay away
RCMP say the fire that prompted a state of emergency in a Labrador town is now under control.
12 students and teacher killed in Columbine school shooting remembered at 25th anniversary vigil
Thirteen victims of the Columbine High School shooting were remembered during a vigil Friday on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the shooting that was the worst the nation had seen at the time.
Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza city of Rafah kills at least 9 Palestinians, including 6 children
An Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza's southernmost city killed at least nine people, six of them children, hospital authorities said Saturday, as Israel pursued its nearly seven-month offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.