Text: “Health scientist Carrie Bourassa on immediate leave after scrutiny of her claim she’s Indigenous.” CBC news
Extract: “Carrie Bourassa, a University of Saskatchewan professor and the scientific director of the Indigenous health arm of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), is on leave from both institutions following a weekend of online outrage stemming from CBC’s investigation into her claims to Indigeneity.
Bourassa, who has headed up an Indigenous research lab at the U of S and the CIHR’s Institute of Indigenous Peoples’ Health, has publicly claimed to be Métis, Anishnaabe and Tlingit.” https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/carrie-bourassa-indefinite-leave-indigenous-1.6233247
Researching the ethnic background of an individual may violate ethical standards in some cases but not others. A previous article https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/carrie-bourassa-indigenous gives more background to the story.
There have been cases in the past when someone has falsely claimed a particular ancestral background and it has been proven to be false. How be it be decided what are the” boundaries of acceptable investigation” in cases like this?