Canada research chair critical of U.S. senator's DNA claim to Indigenous identity

An American senator's release of aDNA test in defence of her claims to Indigenous ancestry has been met with backlash on social media fromIndigenous academics and artistsin Canada.

The DNA results, first reported by the Boston Globe Monday, were toprovideevidence to support Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren's claims of Indigenous ancestry.

The Boston Globe said the test revealed the potential for aNative American ancestor in her family tree six to 10 generations ago. The results suggest that Warren isbetween 1/64thand 1/1,024thNative American.

Warren's heritage has been under scrutiny since 2012 during her campaign for the Senate against Scott Brown who ran attack ads aimed at her "Cherokee" heritage.

She has also been atarget of U.S, President Donald Trump, who hadsaid that if she could prove her ancestry with a DNA test he would donate $1 millionto a charityof her choice.

The idea that Indigenous heritage is defined by DNA was criticized Monday by many Indigenous artists, activists and scholars in Canada.

KimTallBear, the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples,Technoscienceand Environment at the University of Alberta, issued a statement saying "For Elizabeth Warren to centre a Native American ancestry test as the next move in her fight with Republicans is to make yet another strike even if unintended against tribal sovereignty."

"She and much of the U.S. American public privilege the voices of (mostly white) genome scientists and implicitly cede to them the power to define Indigenous identity," the statement continued.

"As scholars of race have shown, it is one of the privileges of whiteness to define and control everyone else's identity."

Pam Palmater,a Mi'kmaqlawyer and associate professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University said:

Anishinaabepodcaster@gindaanissaid:

Alicia Elliott, aHaudenosaunee writer, said:

RobertJago, a writer andmember of theNooksackTribe andKwantlenFirst Nation, said:

ACBC News investigationthis year revealed one company's dubious DNA tests forIndigenous identity. ViaguardAccu-Metricstested samples from twoCBCemployees born in India and one born in Russia and reported thatall three were 12 per centAbenakiand eight per cent Mohawk.

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