Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden is a Canadian novelist, screenwriter, essayist, and public speaker. His bestselling novels have won numerous national and international awards (including the Giller Prize in 2008), and have been published in over 20 languages in more than fifty countries. Boyden grew up in Willowdale, North York, Ontario, and attended the Jesuit-run Brebeuf College School. The ninth of eleven children, he is the son of Blanche (Gosling) and Raymond Wilfrid Boyden,[2][3] a medical officer renowned for his bravery, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and was the most highly decorated medical officer of World War II.[4]

Boyden studied humanities at York University and received his MFA in Fiction from the University of New Orleans in 1995. He was a professor in the Aboriginal Student Program at Northern College from 1995-1997. He taught at the University of New Orleans from 1998-2010, where he served as writer-in-residence. He was also a lecturer with the University of British Columbia's Creative Writing Program from 2013 to 2015.[5]

To date, Boyden has received five honorary doctorates and degrees. His first honorary doctorate in 2009 (Doctor of Letters, honoris causa) was awarded from Nipissing University.[6] In 2013, Boyden was awarded a second honorary doctorate from Algoma University.[7] He was awarded a third honorary doctorate from Sir Wilfrid Laurier University in 2014, a fourth from Trent University in 2015, as well as an honorary degree from Humber College in 2015. Boyden was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013. He sits on the board of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

In 2014 Boyden accepted a commission from the Royal Winnipeg Ballet to write a ballet about residential schools in Canada. Boyden's ballet Going Home Star — Truth and Reconciliation premiered in 2014 and traveled across the country.[8]

As a public speaker, Boyden regularly addresses Indigenous Canadian, environmental, and mental health issues.

On December 30, 2015, Boyden was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada for his contributions as an author and engaging public speaker who tells stories of our common heritage, as well as for his social engagement, notably in support of First Nations.[9] He was married to author Amanda Boyden.[10]

Joseph Boyden lives in the Georgian Bay area in Canada since Fall 2017. He lives with his partner Laura and their two sons. In 2019, Joseph wrote about coming home and finding new life in Georgian Bay Today magazine.[11]

Boyden is primarily of Irish and Scottish ancestry. A number of Indigenous writers and researchers came forward to publicly state Boyden did not have the right to speak on behalf of any Indigenous community because he was not a First Nations citizen and ultimately not Indigenous.[12]

Boyden's claims to Indigenous heritage subsequently became the subject of public dispute when an APTN National News article, "Author Joseph Boyden's shape-shifting Indigenous identity" by Jorge Barrera,[13] was published December 23, 2016. Barrera's article investigates Boyden's past claims of Mi'kmaq, and Métis ancestry as well as his current claims of being Nipmuc and Ojibway. Barrera brought to light facts surrounding Boyden's uncle Earl Boyden, who went by the name "Injun Joe". Earl Boyden was an artist in Algonquin Park and was the subject of a 1956 Maclean's article titled, "The Double Life of Injun Joe", in which the author reports that he has no "Indian blood.". Barrera's search of Boyden's family tree could not locate any Indigenous ancestry. Boyden's mother was briefly interviewed via telephone by Barrera. She said that her son was researching her family's history.[14]

Boyden, who had refused an interview with APTN for the article, responded by Twitter on December 24. Boyden admitted he'd called himself Métis, but only meant the term to mean mixed blood. He continued to assert his maternal Ojibway and paternal Nipmuc roots.[15]

Subsequently, Rebeka Tabobondung, editor of Muskrat magazine revealed Boyden had told her he was from the Wasauksing First Nation. Tabobondung who is from Wasauksing followed up to find his family connection and could not. However, Boyden's family did own a private island near the community.[16] Boyden has also at various times claimed to have heritage from the Ojibway of Cape Croker, the Huron-Wendat and the Red River Métis.

Over the next weeks a series of Indigenous writers, activists and politicians including Wab Kinew,[17] Drew Hayden Taylor[18] Hayden King,[19] Ryan McMahon,[20] and others wrote about the controversy in national media. They asked on what basis Boyden felt he had expertise to represent issues if he was not Indigenous, and asked to whom he was accountable, as some of the positions he was presenting seemed out of line with ongoing work in Indigenous communities[21][22] Others critiqued Boyden for accepting prizes, speaking fees, and awards that were designated for Indigenous authors.

On January 12, 2017, Boyden gave his first public interviews since the appearance of the APTN article. He personally selected the interviewers who were both friends of his, Mark Medley of The Globe and Mail,[23] and Candy Palmater a comedian who occasionally works at CBC.[24] Boyden now admitted he had erroneously identified himself as Mi'kmaq in the past. He continued to identify as a "white kid with native roots", Ojibway on his mother's side and Nipmuc on his father's side. Boyden denied that he had relied on his identity as an Indigenous person to popularize his books, and he stated he had only won one literary prize based on heritage and little money. He did, however, apologize for taking up too much of the "air space" and stated he would do less public speaking, thus allowing for Indigenous voices to be heard in the media.[24]

Reaction to the interviews was mixed.[25][26]

Subsequent reports by Canadaland[27] and other researchers turned up inconsistencies in Boyden's claims and failed to find any native ancestry in Boyden's background. In an August 2, 2017 essay in Maclean's magazine,[28] Boyden stated that he took a DNA test which listed "Native American DNA". For Boyden's critics, the results mean little as broad DNA categories do not constitute membership to a nation.[29] According to First Nations genetics expert Kim Tallbear, DNA testing for Native ancestry as a racial category is not scientifically possible, and is often confused with DNA testing that confirms specific familial lineage.[30][31]

The public revelations about Boyden's roots threatened to impact the release of his new fiction novel and Ojibway filmmaker Lisa Meeches stepped forward to adopt Boyden as a sibling. Meeches had lost a brother, but also wanted to protect Boyden's work.[32][33]

During the defense of a lawsuit, Boyden had provided a photocopy of his "status card", a document appearing to be an ID card for the Ontario Métis Aboriginal Association (also known as the Woodland Métis Tribe). Research by journalist Eric Andrew Gee led to the following comment in the 7 August 2017 issue of the Globe and Mail: "the OMAA ... is a complicated and in many ways troubled organization held in low esteem by some prominent Métis Canadians for its legal and financial misadventures over the years, and its lax membership policy that does not require any proof of Indigenous ancestry. Nor does the group provide "status cards" – Indian status can only be conferred by the federal government. The ID Boyden flourishes like a trump in his affidavit is little more than a piece of paper."[34] [35]

In a Supreme Court of Canada appeal about another issue (Document C28533, page 17), the government confirmed that OMAA (Ontario Métis Aboriginal Association) cannot provide individuals with Métis status: "membership in OMAA ... does not establish membership in the specific local aboriginal community for the purposes of establishing a s. 35 [treaty and aboriginal] right. Neither OMAA nor the MNO [Métis Nation of Ontario] constitute the sort of discrete, historic and site-specific community contemplated by Van der Peet capable of holding a constitutionally protected aboriginal right".[36]

In 2015 Boyden condemned Stephen Harper during the 2015 Canadian federal election, calling his politics "race-baiting" and "fear-mongering".[37]

• Marco Ulm: Dialogizing the monologic in native literature. Bakhtinian readings of Thomas King and Joseph Boyden. Wißner, Augsburg 2014 ISBN 9783896399748 (= Diss. phil. University of Marburg 2013)
• Boyden, item at English-Canadian writers, Athabasca University, by J. McKay; with links added