For many Indigenous authors and literary scholars across Canada, Thomas King’s essay published in the Globe and Mail on Monday, in which the celebrated Canadian-American writer revealed that he has no Cherokee ancestry despite claiming otherwise for decades, did not come as much of a surprise. Rather, it is seen as a profound — and painful — disappointment.

As King alluded to in his first-person piece, his claims to Cherokee ancestry had been called into question within Indigenous circles for years. For those in the community, the question has long been whether King, 82, would address those allegations in his lifetime — and, if so, how he would choose to do it.

The public disclosure of King’s actual ancestry has sparked two major discussions. First, a conversation about what this rev

See Full Page