A British Columbia judge is warning that what he calls a SA国际影视传媒渢sunamiSA国际影视传媒� of Indigenous identity fraud cases is coming to Canadian courts.

Provincial Court Judge David Patterson says thatSA国际影视传媒檚 driven by the SA国际影视传媒渄esireSA国际影视传媒� of non-Indigenous people to access what they deem to be benefits of identifying as Indigenous.

He said in a recent ruling that judges must be SA国际影视传媒渁live to the issueSA国际影视传媒� and require proof that ensures an offender is entitled to be sentenced as an Indigenous person.

A set of guidelines known as Gladue factors requires courts to consider an Indigenous personSA国际影视传媒檚 background during sentencing.

Those principles could include family trauma, poverty and whether being separated from their culture could have contributed to their offence.

In this case, pastor Nathan Allen Joseph Legault was convicted on charges related to child pornography.

The crimes revolved around communication with two minors he met while serving as a youth camp director and as a pastoral intern in Saskatchewan and Windsor, Ont.

Patterson found in the ruling that Legault provided questionable and inadequate claims to M茅tis identity based on SA国际影视传媒渇amily loreSA国际影视传媒� that his great-great-grandmother was Indigenous.

Legault argued that he understood himself to be M茅tis because his ancestor was part of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

Patterson said in the ruling that the self-identification from Legault meant Gladue factors should be considered.

The factors are named after a 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision in R. v. Gladue. The top court reaffirmed the principles in 2012 in another case, R. v. Ipeelee, which said that the failure to consider them is a legal error.

In his ruling, Patterson stressed that it would not be appropriate for a sentencing judge or counsel to determine whether or not someone has Indigenous ancestry.

But he nonetheless decided that Legault did not meet the criteria for the Gladue factors to apply in his case, stating his family history did not SA国际影视传媒渘egativelySA国际影视传媒� affect him in a way that would be legally meaningful.

SA国际影视传媒淪imply put, there is nothing to equate Mr. LegaultSA国际影视传媒檚 life experience with that of the M茅tis people specifically or Indigenous Peoples in Canada generally,SA国际影视传媒� he wrote.

SA国际影视传媒淚 am of the view that the only way to give meaning to the Supreme Court of CanadaSA国际影视传媒檚 teaching in Gladue and Ipeelee is for judges to be alive to the issue of Indigenous identity fraud and require some proof that satisfies the court that the person being sentenced is entitled to be sentenced as an Indigenous person.SA国际影视传媒�

Patterson cited the Gladue report prepared for LegaultSA国际影视传媒檚 case, which argued that SA国际影视传媒淢茅tis is the most controversial and ethnically diverseSA国际影视传媒� Indigenous identity in Canada.

It went on: SA国际影视传媒淲hile the M茅tis as a people have been recognized by the Canadian government as separate from the Inuit and First Nations peoples, the definition of M茅tis, and thus who is and who is not M茅tis remains a source of often contention.SA国际影视传媒�

M茅tis, generally, are defined as a distinct Indigenous group whose homelands originate with the Red River in Manitoba.

Scholars including author Chelsea Vowel have described the group as having been born of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry and having formed a distinct, new culture by the mid-18th century.

Critics have raised concerns about people who label themselves as M茅tis if they simply have a distant Indigenous ancestor and no present community connections.

In his ruling, the judge cited the case of author Joseph Boyden, who held the same Ontario Woodlands M茅tis Tribe membership card that Legault procured.

Patterson quoted from a University of Saskatchewan report that M茅tis lawyer Jean Teillet wrote on the subject.

SA国际影视传媒淔raudsters often claim membership in an Indigenous organization as proof of their Indigenous identity,SA国际影视传媒� Teillet said in the report.

SA国际影视传媒淭his is not what Indigenous people mean when they refer to community.SA国际影视传媒�

SA国际影视传媒擝y Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press