'Pretendians' Controversy Over Formerly Unheard-Of First Nation

Local chiefs claim Kawartha Lakes group is part of wave of cases in which people falsely claim Indigenous identity

- Leyland Cecco

The headquarters of the Kawartha Lakes First Nation sits off a road 160km northeast of Toronto. Between ads for all-terrain vehicles, hand-scrawled messages on the three buildings decry government corruption.

At the centre of the lot stands a tipi. Alongside banners commemorating missing and murdered Indigenous women and the victims of Canada's residential school system, Confederate flags flap gently in the wind.

To its 20 members, this is the heart of Canada's newest First Nation. But seven local Indigenous chiefs claim it is the site of a brazen fraud that threatens to erode their hard-fought constitutional rights.

In recent years, Canada has grappled with a spate of "pretendian" cases - in which people falsely claim Indigenous identity. The use of Indigenous symbols and slogans has also grown increasingly common among the country's far right.

Members of Kawartha Lakes First Nation argue they are exempt from laws and taxes, echoing the rhetoric of the extremist sovereign citizens movement in the US, and their emergence has raised concerns over how groups may use Indigenous identity to lay claim to land or demand government concessions.

About two months ago, William Denby, the self-proclaimed "chief" of the Kawartha group, began emailing local chiefs, and municipal and provincial officials. Denby protested against the destruction of farmland for housing developments and made broad allegations of corruption. He said he was the hereditary leader of a forgotten Indigenous nation and claimed his group had rights to nearly 15,000 sq km of land.

At first, Taynar Simpson, the chief of Alderville First Nation, ignored the near-daily emails. But then, he said: "Against my better judgment, I decided to respond."