cheyanne turions (courtesy Salt Spring National Art Prize)
Vancouver-based curator cheyanne turions, who has been mired in controversy since she publicly acknowledged she was unable to substantiate her claims of Indigenous identity, has resigned from her position at SFU Galleries.
Following a lengthy negotiation – and consultations with Indigenous colleagues at Simon Fraser University, as well as Indigenous community members – SFU Galleries released a brief statement Friday confirming her departure.
“SFU Galleries is grateful to colleagues and community members who generously share their time, concerns and care in support of the work that we do," it said. “We continue with our commitment to recognize and support the practices of Indigenous artists, Indigenous university students, faculty, and staff.”
The university released no details about the terms of the settlement, citing privacy concerns.
Turions announced last spring that she was changing her self-identity from mixed settler / Indigenous to settler ancestry.
At the time, the Vancouver Sun reported she had been “outed as a ‘pretendian’ after @nomoreredface published a Twitter thread that included screenshots of grants that turions received from the Canada Council that were intended for Aboriginal curators, and worth $73,000, and another for $30,000 from the Ontario Arts Council.”
In a blog posting in February, turions, born in High Prairie, Alta., said she grew up understanding that she had Indigenous ancestry.
“However, when recently reviewing historical census data, I have not been able to find corroborating documentation for my family’s claims to Indigenous ancestry,” she wrote.
“This is a space of confusion for me as it pits family histories against government records, and I am unsure how to hold these different sources in relation to each other.”
SFU Galleries director Kimberly Phillips released a public letter on March 31 acknowledging the impact this news has had on Indigenous peoples.
“SFU Galleries is now moving through a process that demands deep consultation and careful listening to many different people – most importantly, to members of the Indigenous art community and Indigenous university faculty and staff,” Phillips wrote at the time. “I am grateful to all those who have generously offered guidance as we work towards repair, so that we might go about that with as much care as we can.”
In recent years, Joseph Boyden, a noted author, and Michelle Latimer, director of the Trickster series on CBC, have been caught in controversy over their assertions of Indigenous identity. Latimer has taken legal action against the CBC and has provided evidence publicly to support her ancestry claims.
Earlier this week, the University of Saskatchewan placed health professor Carrie Bourassa on leave after questions arose concerning her assertions of Indigenous identity.