Canadian Woman Jailed for Fraudulently Claiming Inuit Identity for Her Daughters

 A Canadian woman, Karima Manji, has been sentenced to three years in prison for falsely claiming her daughters were Inuit to access over C$150,000 in benefits, marking the first custodial sentence for such fraud. Manji pleaded guilty to fraud in February, and Nunavut Justice Mia Manocchio emphasized that this case should serve as a warning against the false appropriation of Indigenous identity for criminal purposes.

Canada has seen a rise in cases of individuals falsely claiming Indigenous identity, though instances involving Inuit fraud are less common. According to the agreed statement of facts, Manji, who briefly lived in Iqaluit in the 1990s, falsely claimed in 2016 that her daughters Amira and Nadya were adopted from an Iqaluit woman named Kitty Noah. Despite a vetting process, the application was approved, allowing her daughters to receive significant financial benefits intended for Inuit people.

Between September 2020 and March 2023, Amira and Nadya received C$158,254.05 from various Nunavut organizations. The sisters, who were vocal about their Inuit identity at university, also started an online business, Kanata Trade Company, claiming it was run by "twin Inuit sisters." However, suspicions arose about their true ancestry.

In March 2023, NTI (Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated) publicly addressed the possible fraudulent enrollment and initiated the process to remove the sisters from the Inuit enrollment list. Manji and her daughters were charged with fraud, but charges against the daughters were dropped after Manji's guilty plea.

Justice Manocchio rejected a suspended sentence, stating that only a prison term would match the severity of the fraud, noting that Manji had victimized her own children and compromised their integrity. Manji has returned C$130,000 but still owes C$28,254 to the Kakivak Association. Manocchio emphasized that the true victims of Manji's crimes were the Inuit of Nunavut.

Following the sentencing, Noah Noah, son of Kitty Noah, expressed relief and satisfaction with the outcome, viewing it as a deterrent to future fraudsters. Manji, previously convicted of fraud while working for a charity, had not served a prison sentence before, a factor considered in her sentencing. Justice Manocchio concluded that the sentence should signal to others that pretending to be Indigenous for financial gain will result in significant consequences.