A leading researcher on Indigenous identity fraud has been ordered to pay damages and legal fees in a defamation suit filed by a University of Regina academic.
Plaintiff Michelle Coupal says Darryl Leroux defamed her when publicly stating she used a false Indigenous identity to become an expert in reconciliation. According to the decision, Coupal began identifying as Indigenous in 2010 based on a belief that she had an Algonquin ancestor from the early 1800s.
In 2023, the Algonquin Nation removed Thomas Legarde from their root ancestor list, saying the man was French and wrongly identified as Algonquin. Coupal and more than a thousand others lost him as their link to the nation.
In his March 11 ruling, Judge D.E. Labach found Coupal did not maliciously claim indigeneity; she believed it to be true. Leroux was found liable because he repeatedly stated she committed fraud, not simply that she is not Indigenous.
Leroux plans to appeal the ruling. The public discourse around the appropriation of Indigenous identity by non-Indigenous people remains a critical issue. Scholars are currently working on a book called The Pretendian Compendium, set to be released in 2027.