The DNA Detective

RCMP officer Dean Lerat, a member of Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan, found many of his long-lost relatives using a DNA-testing kit. Now he does volunteer genealogy work to help others connect with their own families, fragmented by colonialism. The results tell the story of a whole nation.

- By Sarah Treleaven. Photography by Amber Bracken

ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY IN 2016, Dean Lerat and his wife, Julie, went for dinner at Piper's Pub in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Amid the green-hued beer and slightly over-festive revellers-many celebrating their Irish roots-the Lerats found themselves chatting about their own family histories. Lerat, who's tall with sandy-brown hair, exudes the do-gooder energy of a Boy Scout while maintaining the enviable posture of someone who's spent decades perfecting a rigid salute. For 25 years, he's donned the red regalia and stiff-brimmed hat of an RCMP officer. He's also a Saulteaux member of Cowessess First Nation in southern Saskatchewan. Dean and Julie both had some Irish heritage, but he knew little about his. That night, the couple made a good-natured bet about whose blood ran greener.

Keen on a victory, Lerat turned to Ancestry.ca, a direct-to-consumer DNA-testing site that has customers spit into a tube in exchange for intel on any genetic relatives it has in its system. Within six weeks, Lerat received his results by email. He clicked on a link and was amazed by the number ofhits he received. Not only was he 15 per cent Irish, but there, at his fingertips, were hundreds of biological family members-some he recognized and others more distant and unknown. Several were Lakota members of the Sioux confederacy in the United States.